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KEEPS YOU CLOSE THAN EVER…

TONYE S. SNITHERS

TABLE OF CONTENS

CHAPTER ONE                    

FRIENDSHIP IS CONNECTIVITY                        1

CHAPTER TWO

CAN SOMEONE BE REAL TO FRIENDSHIP?     2                                             

CHAPTER THREE

COST OF REAL FRIENDSHIP     3

CHAPTER FOUR

EVIDENCE OF REAL A FRIEND                         4

CHAPTER FIVE

TYPES OF REAL FRIENDS         5

Chapter 1

             

FRIENDSHIP

IS CONNECTIVITY

The word connectivity in its main purpose is to attach something or to hold-on to a thing. For connection therein to be purposeful there must be a deliberate agreement between two individual elements. This means, if anything is forced to be attached to a different body, that which is forced in, certainly will pull off OR detach from its attachment. By the way, of understating this issue ‘REAL FRIEND’ which is a daily affair concerning two elements better still, two people or more that makes it become what it means.

In searching through the scriptures of the Bible, I find out that God Himself does not like loneliness and He was never a lone ranger. He loves friendship, communion, collaboration, attachment and even relationships. To crown what I meant, I have discovered that human beings are connective creatures created by the Connecting God. He knew that friendship is a relationship. This is not just a fact but truth in all its sense of comprehension. God being a connective God, was proved in Gen. 1:26, when He declared, “let us make man…” showing that, there was a companionship or a company in the cause to making “man.” He went on to observe that man was alone despite the animals and flies present, so command to exist for man’s care. Hence, he declared again, “it is not good for a man to be alone…” (Gen. 2:18) He forbade man from being alone, not just for the bases of procreation, sex and marriage but for companionship, friendship and support for one another. For this very reason of connectivity, God created a companion (friend) to be-friend the one alone and lonely, and based on this truth, I am asking this question:

Was Friendship Part Of God's Plan For Creation?

I believe your answer might be as good mine, with the understanding of Gen. 1:26 and Gen. 2:18. These are two scriptures, I believe answers this very question, which means friendship, is in the creation structure of God.  The Bible (the Old Testament), was originally written in Aramaic and Hebrew, and the Hebrew word for “Friend” is “MÊRÊA” which is translated as companion and confidential friend.

Jesus Christ the role model and the Lord to the Christian faith though had many followers, but picked only the twelve as disciples, yet not the entire twelve were his confidential friends but only Peter, James, and John. He never revealed who he really was to the entire twelve, but before these three, he did transfigure. Therefore, friendship is in the plan of God’s creation.

Who Is A Friend?

Jesus Christ still gave the best picture of who a friend is or should be, He said,

“This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a master does not confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me.”[1]

In this very scripture above as it concerns friendship, there are four important elements to be considered for understanding friendship;

(1) Love each other: Friends do have love for each other; this should not be a matter of what the individual possess but genuine love. Love is the strongest element that keeps any relationship to grow with strength and to be admirable.

(2) One’s life for one’s friends: Real friendship stands for a very long-time, they help you grow as you do likewise, they represent you even when you are not in the occasion you could not avail yourself due to busy schedule

(3) Confide: although in this scripture, it indicate on not confide, but the word has to do with the ability of trusting this individual,

(4) Since I have told you everything

This means a friend is someone you are willing to tell everything, and you will want them to keep your secrets as secret. A friend is one who loves you and will always confide in you, with the understanding that he/she can go any length for you and with you.

There is a saying that “a friend is that one whose house is never too far.”[2]

The oxford advanced learners dictionary also said, “A friend is a person you know well and like and who is not usually a member of your family.”  

The meaning attached to what we call a thing is so many times ignored, because some of us humans do not give a hood about why they are called what we hear and why it sound that way. Friendship has rules and roles to play by those involved; here is an example of God and His friend Abraham.

“And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham [My friend and servant] what I am going to do,

…For I have known (chosen, acknowledged) him [as My own], so that he may teach and command his children and the sons of his house after him to keep the way of the Lord and to do what is just and righteous, so that the Lord may bring Abraham what He has promised him.”[3]

This event reveals that friends do not hide things from each other, they show and share intimacy of the truth of what is before them. Imagine, God not wanting to hide what He intends to do on earth to His human friend, Abraham.  Can we be real to this extent, that we share our thoughts with the person we call our friend. The next chapter will tell us how we can be real and know when someone is real toward us as friends.

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[1] John 15:12

[2] Anonymous

[3] Gen 18:17, 19.  AMP