Best-ist Friends!

Do you have a ‘Best Friend’? I hope you do. Best friends are very important. Best friends are our confidants. They are our counselors. They back us up when others are against us. We can tell them anything. Jeff Foxworthy defines a “Best Friend” as not the person who bails you out when you’re in jail but the person sitting next to you in jail! That’s not the situation we want to be in but it does make a point… Best Friends are there through thick and thin; and good health or bad.

Biblically when I think of best friends, I think of Jonathon and David. In Samuel 18:1 it states: “There was an immediate bond of love between them and they became the best of friends.”

Have you ever met someone and you just “clicked”? You immediately liked them. You became good friends, even best friends. I have. Jonathan and David liked each other immediately and they became “like two peas in a pod.” Where one was, the other one was close behind. They also made a vow of friendship. Samuel 18:3 – “And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.”

“He LOVED him as himself”…love is the core expression of commitment. Think about those you love, how do you know you love them? You know you love them because you want to be with them “all the time”.

A song by King and Country called: “The Proof of your Love” really brings this to the front:

So let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love
Let my love look like You and what You're made of
How You lived, how You died
Love is sacrifice
So let my life be the proof,
The proof of Your love

Love is proof; love is sacrifice and when all else fails only love remains. Throughout Jonathon and David’s life they continuously recommitted their lives to each other. They made sure that they said to one another, “I’m behind you, I’m with you. We are in this together.” They loved each other…they were Best Friends!

There is nothing like the love of a “Best Friend”. How do we choose a best friend then? Well, I don’t know about you but this is my basic criteria for the best friend interview:

1.      Best Friends should know the bible: your friendship needs protection. The Bible is a two edged sword. Choose a friend who knows and loves their Bible. You need to protect each other and only God can provide the strength and wisdom to do this.

2.      Best Friends have vision: your friendship should be filled with challenges or it will become very dull and boring after a time. This includes accountability as well as in praying for each other.

3.      Best Friends should have faith: your friendship is based on a lot of unknowns only through faith in God and each other can these be uncovered. The only chance of a successful friendship is your faith and dependence on the Lord.

4.      Best Friends give their whole heart: we need to be whole hearted Christians not only to God first but also in our relationships.

All these qualities work hand in hand. God says in his word, wherever 2 or 3 are gathered in his name, he is there also. That’s right… “2” Best friends…gathered together…in God’s name…in love, God is with them. Do you want God with you?

You better!!!

Proverbs 18:24 a man that hath friends must show himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

If you don’t have a best friend….get one!

You may have a best friend already…..could be me!!!

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10  Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!