31 Days In Proverbs -- Day 26

      Friendship is something that is very important to me. I have to say that I haven't had very many true friends in my life. By true friends, I mean the type of friend that sticks with you in the good times and in the bad times. A true friend is a friend that will not turn on you or lie to you. When it comes right down to it, I've had several friends, but I've only had two true friends in my life. One was my friend Toby, and the other is the ultimate friend the Lord Jesus. 

     Proverbs 17:17 gives us the message that, "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity." A friend loves at all times means that a true friend will want to be with you and help you out even when things aren't fun and rosy.  A lot of friends are like the friends that the young man had in the parable that Jesus told of the Prodigal Son. While the Prodigal Son had a lot of money, there were friends who wanted to be around him. When the money ran out, they were nowhere to be found. They were friends when the weather of life was good. When the storms came, they were gone. 

     I think that there have been two really hurtful times in my life when those who I though were my friends let me down. Once, a friend of mine didn't keep his word about a deal that we had made about a car. On another occasion, someone who I thought was my friend didn't want to have any more to do with me after I started attending a different church. 

     Many of the experiences in my life led me to be really close to my friend Toby. He never turned on me, and he wanted to be with me and help me in the good times and in the bad. I believe that Jesus allowed him to come into my life to help me with my depression and to help heal the wounds in my heart caused by fundamentalist religion.

     Our ultimate friend is always the Lord Jesus. He will never leave us, and He will never forsake us. He loved us so much that He gave His life to save us from our sins. He wants us to be with Him forever, so He has made a home for us in Heaven with Him so that we will be with Him always. 

     If you have a true friend in your life, treasure that person. Do everything that you can do to be a true friend. We all must remember the words of Jesus to do unto others as we would have done to us.