[Life Of David] Four Attributes of God-Honoring Friendships 预览

Loyalty 

Are we loyal in our friendships? When you think of yourself as a friend, do you consider yourself loyal? Are you a loyal or a fickle friend? Do you talk badly about your friends behind their backs? Are you loyal in what you say? When you say you will do something, do you get it done the way you said you would? Do you receive the same kind of loyalty from your friends?

When I was young, my friendships were based on fun. I wanted to be with people who were fun. I wanted to have a good time. As I have gotten older, I have found that my friendships are not based solely on fun anymore. Yes, we still want to have fun, but my friendships are based on faithfulness, which is a loyalty base, not just a fun base. I would rather be a boring, loyal friend now than be a fun, fickle friend. 

As we get older, life tends to get heavier with responsibilities, issues we need to deal with on a daily basis, things that need our attention and commitment. Life is not just about going out and having a good time and having no responsibilities. Although having fun is a part of friendship, we all need someone we can call and say, “I need to get good, clear, wise counsel from you. I need you to keep this a secret. I need loyalty. I need friendship. I need to be able to trust you.”

If you do not have deep, loyal friendships, what can happen is that you may end up surrounding yourself with fake friendships, or you may isolate yourself. What is happening in our culture nowadays is that we isolate and we are seeing it all through a screen. That can be a lot of fun and has its place. I, too, like to catch up with friends on Facebook; but we need to be able to have loyal, deep friendships, where we connect one-on-one. That is very important. We need loyal friends in our life. An acquaintance is kept at arm’s length, but a loyal friend gets closer to you.

In 1 Samuel 20, Jonathan is protecting David from Saul. They try to come up with a plan to stop Saul from killing David, and Jonathan has to leave; but before he leaves, they make a pledge in the name of the Lord. They put the Lord as a witness that they will be loyal to each other in what they said they would do. It is like they said: “There’s a witness between us. I’m going to be loyal to you and you’re going to be loyal to me.”

My prayer for you today is that you can be that loyal friend who can be faithful to their family and friends and that God surrounds you with loyal family and friends.