Friends Forever

 Friendship is one of God's greatest blessings to us. What would our lives be like without friends? I can tell you that we would be missing a lot. There is just something about bonding with other people, especially other believers. Once that happens, we should be friends forever. That is how it was with David and Saul's son, Jonathan. From the time David came to be with Saul, Jonathan realized David's character and his destiny to be the king after Saul. He was ready to do whatever he could to help David, even though it meant he would never get to be the king himself. When Saul was so angry with David that he wanted to kill him or have him killed, Jonathan protected David from harm. (I Samuel 20:42) Before David fled from Saul, Jonathan restated the covenant of friendship between the two of them. God would be between them forever, but not only between them but between their descendants forever. That is true friendship.

I wonder how many forever friends we have in our lives. That kind of commitment never dies. In fact, it does extend from one generation to the next in certain cases, because we pass on that love and commitment to our children. This is truly what Jesus told His disciples just before going to the cross. He gave them a new commandment. That commandment was that they were to love each other in the same way He loved them. (John 13:34) How does Jesus love us? He loves us completely and eternally. He is ready to care for us and our needs at any time, and He loves our descendants just as much. When we love like Jesus, we will be the best kind of friends to others. We will be forever friends to stand by them in the Lord no matter what happens.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read I Samuel 22-25.