Gen 1:31, Gen 2:18, John 15:12-17, Matthew 25:35-45

9. Friends are human, too
Friends are human, just like me. Humans make mistakes and forgiveness is part of the big picture in a true friendship. I think it's a good idea to avoid having specific expectations for your friends to fulfil. Give your friends as much room as you want them to give you. When the same mistakes occur over and over you need to talk honestly about why that's happening.

10. Friends too nice to be forgotten
I love the friends I've had since the 1980s. They have all the qualities I look for in friends. I've lost contact with some acquaintances I called friends. I don't think they were meant to be more than brief encounters in my life. The long-time friends are just too nice to be forgotten. As the song I recall from Brownie days goes, 'Make new friends, but keep the old, some are silver and the others gold.

Jesus provides His own benchmark for what a friend should be like in John 15:12-17

"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit-fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other."

Being a true friend means being willing to lay it all down, to put their needs above your own. The amazing thing is that He has already demonstrated that this is isn't some abstract philosophy. He did exactly that for each one of us because His love for you is so great. Remember this, He chose YOU. A deliberate choice, not random or because he had to but because He wants you to experience His friendship more than any other. He took the initiative and made the first move. He didn't wait for a socially acceptable introduction, but put it all out there taking the risk of you or I rejecting Him.

So how do we respond? By loving Him back and not just Him, but those He loves. Being a friend of Jesus means loving those Jesus loves. This is best illustrated in Matthew 25:35-45

"When I was hungry, you gave me something to eat, and when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. When I was a stranger, you welcomed me, and when I was naked, you gave me clothes to wear. When I was sick, you took care of me, and when I was in jail, you visited me. Then the ones who pleased the Lord will ask, When did we give you something to eat or drink? When did we welcome you as a stranger or give you clothes to wear or visit you while you were sick or in jail? The king will answer, Whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me.

God calls us to be friends to the friendless, to bring hope to the hopeless and to love the unloved. If you are serious about experiencing true friendship, you might want to make this your prayer today.

'...Lord Jesus, today I accept that you chose me as a friend. Thank you for showing me what true friendship looks like and taking the initiative so that I can be a friend of God. Please show me how I can open up my life to others and allow them to be your gift of friendship to me. And please help me to love your friends and show them the same love that you want to show me. Amen'