1 Samuel 18:3
“Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul."
One of the greatest friendships you will find in the Bible is the friendship between David and Jonathan. This friendship was an unseemly friendship because David's greatest enemy was Saul, Jonathan's father. What is interesting about this friendship is that neither David nor Jonathan was looking for friendship. Their friendship was a discovery.
Let me explain. David and Jonathan were very much alike in that both men fought battles that others were not willing to fight. A few chapters earlier Jonathan and his armour bearer fought the Philistines all by themselves, and in this chapter we see David fought the giant when others were not willing to fight him. It was this similarity that drew these two men together. They didn't have to look for each other; they discovered each other by being in the same yoke together.
One of the greatest influences in our lives is the influence of friends. Maybe, the greatest destroyers of people are friends. On the other hand, the greatest influence for people doing right are friends. Let me give you a few thoughts about friends.
First, don't look for friends. This may sound strange, but one of the greatest reasons why good people get yoked up with the wrong crowd is because they are looking for friends. The wrong crowd will portray themselves in such a manner that it will look enticing to become a friend to them. Many times when we look for friends we look for the wrong characteristics. This is why we must not look for friends.
Secondly, be friendly. Though we should not look for friends, we should be friendly to everyone. Proverbs 18:24 says, “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly...” You will never discover friends by being an unfriendly person. Anybody can choose to be friendly and everyone should be friendly.
Last of all, do right. Doing right has a way of running away the bad crowd. But, when I say do right, I want to put the emphasis on the word “do.” Yes, we should live right, but we should also do right. When you are involved in serving God, you are doing right. It’s not enough not to do wrong, it’s when you do right that you find others around you who are also doing right. You will never find others doing right unless you are doing right.
What will happen when you do these three things is: you will discover next to you those who are doing the same things you are doing and this is when you discover friendship. You discover your friends, not by looking for them, but by being friendly and doing right. By being friendly and doing right, you discover all of those next to you who have the same philosophy and desires you have. Thus, you have discovered your friends.
Everyone wants friends. Friends will either make or break our Christian lives. In order to find the type of friends you should have you must follow the three steps above and you will surely find the right friends. Let's be careful about our friends. Do what is taught above and you will discover your friends for life.
To contact Evangelist Allen Domelle, send an email to contact@oldpathsjournal.com.
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