10 principles of friendship you need to know

July 30 was the International Day of Friendship. 

Man is empty without friends. After creation God discovered that, “It is not good for a man to be alo-ne” (Genesis 2:18).” Man is a social being. He cannot develop in isolation.

In fact, a tree cannot make a forest! Sirach 6:14-15 declares, “A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter: he that finds one finds a treasure. There is nothing so precious as a faithful friend.”  True Friendship is indeed an inexhaustible treasure.

1. Friendship requires care: 

It is not something one should enter anyhow or with anybody. Light and darkness have nothing in common. Proverbs 12:26 declares “The righteous choose their friends care-fully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.”

2. Friendship demands Sacrifice:

Jesus said, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13). Friendship cannot grow without sacrifice.

3. A True Friend Must be Reliable:

Proverbs 18: 24 declares ”One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” A true friend must be trustworthy.

4. Bad Friends are dangerous:

As Paul declares, “Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character (1 Corinthians 15:33).

5. Avoid Hot Tempered Friends:

Proverbs 22:24-25 declares, “Do not make friends with a hot-tempered per son, do not associate with one easily angered, or you may learn their ways and get yourself ensnared.” Playing with hot tempered person is like playing with fire both are dangerous!

6. Associate with Wise Friends:

Proverbs 13:20 declares ”Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.”  The more you associate with wise friends the wiser you will become.

7. Avoid Worldly Friends:

James 4:4 declares “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” may God deliver you from worldly friends!

8. Openness is the essence of true friendship:

Jesus told his followers, “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn't know what his lord does.

But I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you (John 15:15).

True friends are open to each other.

9. Good friends sharpen themselves:

Proverbs 27:17 declares “Iron sharpens iron; so a man sharpens his friend’s countenance.”

10. Above all, true Friendship attracts God:

In Matthew 18:20 Jesus declares, ”Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

Association with good friends is an association with God. It is pleasant to see friends who live in harmony!