The Qualities Of A True Friend

 The Qualities Of A True Friend or a beloved brother are best exemplified in the life of the Lord Jesus. A true friend loves at all times, in good circumstances and during times of greatest difficulty and hardships, and Jesus reminded us that the greatest of all love is expressed when a friend is prepared to give up his own life for that of his friend or to forego his own desires and needs for the sake of his dearly beloved friend.
 Loyalty in friendship is a grace that becomes all the more precious when, despite intensifying hardships, a friend is there to comfort and help. The Scriptures remind us never to abandon a friend, nor even to forsake the friends of your father or mother. All true friendships are of great value, but it is a double blessing when friendships traverse the generations.
 Wise counsel and spiritual encouragement is the calling-card of the friend that loves at all times, and loyalty, sensitivity, and a genuine interest in the other are the qualities of the brother that travels through adversity with us. May we take on these qualities in our dealings with our friends, and praise God when we discover them to be the qualities that characterize our own friends and brothers and sisters-in-Christ.
Proverbs 17:17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.

Our United Prayer:
Heavenly Father, we thank You for the dear friends that You have brought into our lives and for the love and comfort that we have received from them over the years. We pray that we would develop the many qualities of genuine friendship, and that You would use us to be friends to others in their times of need. This we ask in Jesus' name, AMEN.