(Apologies – I’m running late !)
As we read through Proverbs this month – be on the lookout for friends.
- How to be them.
- Recognise them.
- Treat them.
- Love them.
Read on…
If we looked into the meaning of the word love, it would be so much more but definitely include words like:
Trustworthy, honest, consistent, reliable, kind.
Love is not the same as ‘nice’ – at least not at the expense of truth (honesty) though it’s delivery will be for kindness sake. Loves actual sake. The good/need of the other.
Nested in the Hebrew meanings for ’friend’ is, among others – the word ‘husband’. So marriages and marriage advice expands into the realm of friendship (duhhh) and loving for the others best.
- If God is Love…
- And the goal is love
- Then the fuel is also love
…as more and more we’re made new in the image and likeness of He who IS love.
How?
- By hanging out with Him.
- Spending time with Him.
We become like who we spend the most time with.
It’s why:
- “he who walks with the wise grows wise”
- “and a companion of fools suffers harm”
- “bad company corrupts”
- “iron sharpens iron”
And the word ‘brother’ can mean kinfolk (as in blood relatives) but it also means “one who is like” 
which certainly expands it to our Jesus kin
