What I blessed reminder I had today!
A man who has friends must himself be friendly,
But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
Proverbs 18:4
It was the latter part of this sentence which struck me this morning and as I thought of the common saying that “Jesus is the Friend who sticks closer than a brother” my thoughts were led into a precious meditation on this.
I must confess I usually prefer the alternative translation of this verse found in some manuscripts, according to the footnote in my present Bible, which says: ‘A man who has friends may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.’ To me, the ‘but’ makes sense that this could reasonably be believed as a more correct translation – but then, my “personal bias” could be playing in here? You’ll have to judge for yourself.
This morning however, as I thought on this verse and the common saying mentioned above, it came to mind to read one of the Scripture accounts where Lord Yeshua calls His disciples ‘His friends’. It was the words of Lord Yeshua recorded at John 15:13-15 I most readily recollected which says this:
Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
My continuing thoughts were these: that, clearly, from this passage alone, the Yeshua was calling His disciples His friends. Would He – could He – say the same to me? Could the One who came from everlasting, the Eternal One who was with God and is God, Bringer of light and truth, the One through whom all things were made, who has life in Him – could He truly be a friend to such a one as I? At this point I was gazing through the window as such thoughts passed through my mind, looking up to the sky, as though just beyond the expanse was Lord Yeshua Himself. As it did so, it slowly began to dawn on me, becoming increasingly clearer as I adjusted my focus the + shape in the structure of the windowpane. It is not unusual for my eyes to find crosses in all sorts of patterns around me wherever at times and, as often becomes the case, to find my thoughts turn to contemplate the cross of Yeshua – the demonstration of the love of God, His life laid down for us sinners. I called to mind just then the words at Romans 5:6-8, a passage which always assures me of God’s love, and which says this:
For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Yes – through the faith God has given me in His Son, I can truly say with conviction that Yeshua the Messiah and Lord, who loved me and gave Himself for me is truly the ‘Friend who sticks closer than a brother.’ And since this is so, though I be friendless in terms of human friends, I am thoroughly content to abide in Him and know that through faith He is in me, as I wait for His coming and The Regeneration of All Things, when all who believe will dwell together with our God as His perfected children. Hallelujah!
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