Loyalty and Friendship

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

—Proverbs 17:17

 

Few things in this life are better than true friends. If I were ever to marry, I would want him to be my best friend. There is no greater love. John 15:13 says, "Greater love has no one than this than to lay down one's life for his friends." For true friends, we will never forsake them, and we will do anything for them. Proverbs 12:26 tells us, "The righteous should choose his friends carefully, for the way of the wicked leads them astray."

 

Friendship should be the same love we have for Jesus; He is our friend and guide. As one of my favorite hymns says, "What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!" On more than one occasion, I poured out my soul to one of my friends; then, I realized how selfish I was in only talking about myself. My friends have always said, "That's what friends are for. We listen when you need us." I have said the same to my friends when they tell me their woes. Jesus is always there to listen to our troubles, and if we are to live a life that imitates Jesus, then we should listen to the good and the bad our friends go through.

 

Romans 8:38-39 illustrates to us what kind of love and friendship we have with God, "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." When I think of how God is always there for us, I always think of the poem "Footprints in the Sand," or sometimes, it's simply called "Footprints." I'm sure that most of us know the poem. My grandmother kept this poem on the wall of her bedroom, so it has always had a special place in my heart and makes me think of her. 

 

One night I dreamed a dream.

As I was walking along the beach with my Lord.

Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.

For each scene, I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,

One belonging to me and one to my Lord.

 

After the last scene of my life flashed before me,

I looked back at the footprints in the sand.

I noticed that at many times along the path of my life,

especially at the very lowest and saddest times,

there was only one set of footprints.

 

This really troubled me, so I asked the Lord about it.

"Lord, you said once I decided to follow you,

You'd walk with me all the way.

But I noticed that during the saddest and most troublesome times of my life,

there was only one set of footprints.

I don't understand why, when I needed

You the most, You would leave me."

 

He whispered, "My precious child,

I love you and will never leave you

Never, ever, during your trials and testings.

When you saw only one set of footprints,

It was then that I carried you."

 

We sometimes forget that God is with us. In our most trying times, he is carrying us. The poem "Footprints," nobody actually knows who wrote it, was probably inspired by Deuteronomy 1:29-31, "Then I said to you, 'Do not be terrified, or afraid of them. The Lord your God, who goes before you, He will fight for you, according to all He did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.'"

 

Our true friends are there for us because of God. I think God brings people into our lives. We may sometimes wonder if God has forsaken us, but He never will. God is there with us, and our true friends will also be there. God works in mysterious ways, and sometimes when we need Him the most, he helps us through our friendships on Earth. A true friendship is eternal, just as our relationship with God is eternal.

 

 

*Some of you may notice that the man walking alone on the beach is naked. I don't usually use images of naked men on my Sunday posts, but I thought this picture was the best one for this post. If we think about it, we are all naked before God. He hears our innermost thoughts and sees everything we do.