Daily Devotional
Do You Have Friends You Can Count On?

June 21, 2023

Ponder This

There was an English publication that had a contest to give the best definition of a friend. Here are some that won honorable mentions. One person said, “A friend is somebody who multiplies your joys and divides your griefs.” Another said, “A friend is someone who understands your silence.” But the one that won was this, “A friend is somebody who comes in when all the world has gone out.”

Do you have a friend you can count on like that? A friend who loves at all times? It doesn’t matter what you’ve done. Somebody wrote these words as a take on 1 Corinthians 13:

Friendship is slow to lose patience. It looks for a way of being constructive. It is not possessive. It is neither anxious to impress others, nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own importance. Friendship has good manners and does not pursue selfish advantage at the other’s expense. It is not touchy. It does not keep account of slights or gloat over the mistakes of the other. On the contrary, it is glad when truth prevails. It knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no failing of its hope, and in this it can outlast anything. True friendship stands when all else has fallen.

Now, do you have a friend like that? Are you a friend like that? Be faithful in your friendships.

• When has a friend exemplified faithfulness to you?
• How have your friendships encouraged your relationship with Jesus?

Practice This

Meet with a friend and provide listening ears and support.