BBD 10.09.13 Friends Forever (Classic)
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The Burning Bush Devotional
14,000 Subscribers
to the Email Devotional
Classic from 2006
10.09.13
Friends Forever
A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who
sticks closer than a brother. - Proverbs 18:24.
This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. - John 15:12-14.
They were just a couple of friends driving along when
they noticed they needed some gas and stopped to fill up the tank. After
filling the tank up, the driver found she did not have enough money to pay for
the gas she already had in the tank. So, a deal was worked out with the station
attendant. Her friend would stay at the station until the driver could return
with the amount owed. It all happened in Germany and a spokesperson for the
police in Muenchberg explains, "She didn't have enough money to pay the bill, so her friend stayed
behind as a human deposit while she went to withdraw cash. Unfortunately, the
woman did not return." The woman
left as a "deposit" at the gas station was stranded, waiting
two hours for her friend to come back (She never did.) and then the police
arrived to interrogate her but did finally release her. The missing driver will
probably be arrested for fraud.
What do you think? Do you think the two friends are going to now remain
friends forever? Probably not! Solomon appears to be on to something
when he tells us in Proverbs that, "A man
who has friends must himself be friendly…." In other words, if you want to have friends and want to keep
those friends - you need to act like a friend. Leaving a friend in an
unpleasant situation like the driver did in Germany is not being a friend. It
is taking advantage of a friendship, which will result in friction and problems
developing in the relationship.
Friends in life are important and provide us with a lot
of encouragement and comfort. Sometimes friends do disappoint us and do us
wrong. However, as Solomon also points out there is a friend that is not like
that. There is a friend that will not only show Himself friendly, but He will
stick closer to us than a brother. That friend is Jesus Christ. All may turn
away and leave us stranded; however, Jesus will never do that. Jesus will
always be there waiting for us to return to Him.
Is it possible for you to cause a disruption in your
friendship with the Lord Jesus? Yes. Why? Because He, Jesus, has given
us some commandments, some guidelines for the eternal friendship. He says, "You are My friends if you do whatever I command you." If we refuse to live like we know He wants us to live -
there will be a breach that develops in the relationship. Who caused the
breach? You did. If we want to continue on a normal basis in our
friendship with the Lord then we must confess our sinfulness (1 John 1:9) and turn back to walk in the ways of
righteousness with Him.
Friends are forever. Actually, there is only one friend
that you can count on forever and that is Jesus Christ. He has proven His love
by dying for you on the cross (Romans 5:8). There is no greater love, no greater friendship than
that.
Copyright © 2006-2013. Ed
Wrather. The Burning Bush website has been online since January 31, 1998. On
June 8, 1998 the email version of the Burning Bush Devotional was first sent.
Ed Wrather began writing devotionals in the early 1990s. The distribution of
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