Friendship
The Rev. Bradley D. Heinrichs
Lessons – I Samuel 18:1-4, 20:1-42, John 15:5-17,
True Christian Religion 448-449
You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. . . .
These things I command you,
that you love one another. (John 15:14,17)
F
riendship is something that every human seems to desire, in one form or
another. But how often do we think of being friends with the Lord? When
you stop to reflect on that concept, it seems pretty obvious that we should be
striving to be the best of friends with the Lord.
And here in the text from John, the Lord gives us some very simple and
direct instructions as to how we can be His friends. Do whatever He commands
– which specifically in this lesson is to love one another as He loves us.
So it appears that in loving one another and forming genuine friendships
with those around us, the same basic rules of friendship would apply – doing
whatever the Lord commands.
The story of David and Jonathan gives us a powerful and moving
illustration of what a genuine friendship should be. Jonathan as the son of King
Saul would have been next in line to the throne, except for one big problem.
His father had broken his covenant with the Lord and so the Lord had chosen
David to become the next king. Jonathan and David were best friends and you
might think this could have driven a wedge between them.
However, Jonathan was on the side of what was right and good rather
than blindly supporting his own family, and chose spiritual family over blood
relationships. And don’t we all strive for that precious ideal of having a good
friend so close that it feels as though our souls are tied or knit together over a
common vision of what the Lord wants? So with this context in mind, let us
delve into the subject of friendship and see what the Writings have to say on
this important subject.
First, let’s look at the beginning verses of John that led up to, “you are my
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