Reported by Liku Zelleke
In a post entitled “The Importance of Friendship as Christians” the question is asked why Christians – the “Saints of God” – can’t follow the examples of friendship depicted in the bible.
Citing the examples of the friendships between Jonathan and David and Jesus and His disciples, the post asks why the models can’t be emulated in today’s world.
“The Bible says, to have friends, we should show ourselves to be friendly,” the post says, adding much wisdom can be found in the proverbs from the bible.
To know how to make friends: “A man that has friends must show himself friendly, and there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.” (Proverbs 18:24)
Anyone that wants to have loyal friends should act as such and show loyalty and friendship first.
Then there is the matter of trust and secrecy: “He who covers and forgives an offense seeks love, but he who repeats or harps on a matter separates even close friends.” (Proverbs 17:9)
This means friends shouldn’t gossip about one another’s faults and should quickly forgive any trespasses. Repeating something a friend had said in confidence, especially when secrecy has been expressed – or is expected – could lead to the loss of that confidence and even the friendship as a whole.
Always speaking the truth, even when it hurts: “Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” (Proverbs 27:5 – 6)
A friend never lets things “slide” or cover them up – because they care enough to make a stand and speak out about them. They call it as it is, and when they see their friend doing something wrong, they come out and say it. Flattery and patronizing does more harm than good.
Friends should be chosen wisely: “Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.” (Proverbs 13:20); we should also stay away and “not make friends with a hot-tempered person, do not associate with one easily angered, or you may learn their ways and get yourself ensnared.” (Proverbs 22:24 – 25).
This means that unless we choose friends who will lift us and make us better persons, we could turn into the person we dread: them.
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