Friends to The End

“A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24

We can learn a lot about friendship from studying the life of Jesus and His devotion not only to those closest to Him but to me and you too. What a wonderful portrait of true friendship we read in John 13:1, “Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” Just hours before Jesus was to suffer an agonizing death upon the Cross, the apostle John writes, “He (Jesus) loved them (His disciples) to the end.” The word “end” in the Greek language here speaks of “fulfilling” which in reality means without end. John reminds us that Jesus love for His disciples (including you and me) has never vacillated, it has never failed and most of all, His love for us will never end.

Friendships are as unique as the people who share them, some last but for a season while others exist for a reason but the best ones are the ones that last a lifetime, like Jesus, “to the end”. Walter Winchell wrote, “A true friend is one who walks in when others walk out” which reminds me of a humorous definition of friendship, “Your friends won’t come visit you in prison because they will already be there with you.” Lawrence Peters described the qualities of a life long friendship this way, “you can tell a real friend by the fact that when you’ve made a fool of yourself he or she doesn’t feel you’ve done a permanent job.”

“Your life long friends know you as you are, understand where you’ve been, accept who you’ve become and still gently invite you to grow.” Dinah Craik wrote a poem, “Friendship: “O, the comfort – the inexpressible comfort of feeling safe with a person, having neither to weigh thoughts, nor measure words – but pouring them right out – just as they are – chaff and grain together – Certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them – Keep what is worth keeping – And with the breath of kindness blow the rest away.” Oh what a friend we have in Jesus!

“A friend loves at all times, And a brother is born for adversity” Proverbs 17:17

I LOVE YOU!