Friends (Proverbs 18:24)

I think friendship is one of the greatest societal inventions. Without friendship, we would all be lonely.

"The man of many friends [a friend to all the world] will prove himself a bad friend, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." Proverbs 18:24, Amplified

The Lord allows us to take things that we understand and translate them over into a relationship with Him. Take for instance friendship. Though it is a societal invention, we can consider our Savior as a friend. If it were not so, the Bible would not say.

The Amplified Version differs slightly from the New King James. If you are following along in the latter, then you would have read, "A man who has friends must himself be friendly." There is really no difference between the two translations. What the New King James is trying to say, the Amplified Version proves. Our earthly friends will always prove themselves bad friends. What I mean to say is that as human beings, we constantly fall. We are prone to sin and let down. If we are like this with our Father, how much more would we be like this with our friends. To let down our friends is inevitable, if it has not happened yet, it will happen eventually. But Jesus is that Friend who will never let us down. He is incapable of letting us down. He will not lie to us or take advantage of us. He will be there when He says He will.

I feel that the main heart of this verse is to state that if we are to place our faith into anything, let it be Jesus and not our earthly friends.