Sirach 6:14-17 “Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter; whoever finds one finds a treasure. Faithful friends are beyond price, no amount can balance their worth. Faithful friends are life-saving medicine; those who fear God will find them. Those who fear the Lord enjoy stable friendship, for as they are, so will their neighbors be.” This episode talks about how important faithful friends are. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Faithful Friends Are Beyond Price
Sirach 6:14-17 “Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter; whoever finds one finds a treasure. Faithful friends are beyond price, no amount can balance their worth. Faithful friends are life-saving medicine; those who fear God will find them. Those who fear the Lord enjoy stable friendship, for as they are, so will their neighbors be.”
I love this verse. Yesterday we talked about how to find good friends and what types of friends we don’t want. Today’s verse is great because it talks about how great it is when you have good friends. Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter. I have definitely experienced this. There have been so many times when I have needed a sturdy shelter to help me deal with all that was going on in my life. God has been so good to me and has placed really great friends in my life at every stage of my life.
My husband, Tony, was in the Air Force, so we moved around quite a bit. Moving around is great because you get to see different parts of the world and experience different cultures. However, it also means you need to start all over again each time you move. You move somewhere and you usually don’t know anyone. If you are really luck you may know someone from a previous assignment. We moved six times before settling down in Massachusetts. The Lord looked out for me and each assignment he lead me to really close friendships, liked the ladies I talked about yesterday. If you want an example of how amazing God is at placing you in the right place at the right time, let me explain about my experience in New Jersey.
We moved to New Jersey when our son was 6 weeks old. He was our first child and so we were just learning how to be parents. When he was about 9 months old, I met a woman whose husband worked with mine. We were at a spouse’s event and she mentioned that she attended a playgroup on base. I went to it the following week and every week there after for the next three years. I met a group of ladies there that were all first time moms and most of us had boys all the same age. There was one lady that had a daughter. We became the best of friends, helping each other navigate through all the challenges of not only being a parent, but being a spouse of someone in the military. We were there for each other when we all had our second, and in some case third child. It was like we grew up together because we went from being young adults to parents together. We have all moved away since then and we don’t keep in touch all that often, but when we do, it is like we never stopped talking. Those ladies were my sturdy shelter in the storm. When I found them, I definitely felt like I had found a treasure. Their friendship is priceless.
Every base I went to I faced different challenges, but I never faced them alone. I always had close friends to help me through them. I like the ending of this verse because is says that “Faithful friends are life-saving medicine; those who fear God will find them. Those who fear the Lord enjoy stable friendship, for as they are, so will their neighbors be.” Faithful friends are life-saving medicine is something that I don’t think anyone that has a faithful friend can argue with. Having a faithful friend to turn to can lift your spirits and help make your burden lighter. Think about when you are feeling upset about something, do you have a friend that you can call who can help take your cares away? Do you have someone that you can call when you are upset and you feel better just by hearing their voice? I think we underestimate friendships now a days.
I also liked how the verse says, “those who fear God will find them. Those who fear the Lord enjoy stable friendship, for as they are, so will their neighbor be.” I like this because it puts some of the responsibility on us. It says that those who fear God will find good friends. This is why you have been able to find good friends over the years. It also says, “for as they are, so will their neighbor be.” We touched on this yesterday a little. If you are kind you will attract kind people. If you are friendly and trustworthy, then you will attract friendly and trustworthy people. As you are, so will your neighbor be. If you want to have better friendships, then be a better friend.
I have been talking so much about friendships this week because I truly feel that they can make all the difference. There is a lot of negativity in the world today. There is a lot of anger and hatred these days. Sometimes it can feel like we are surrounded by all this negativity and it can start to infect us. If you do not surround yourself with people who can spread light and love into your life, then life will be harder. Do you have someone that you can count on to shine light into your darkness? Do you have someone in your life that will spread Christ’s joy to you, especially when you need it the most? If not, how can you change that for this upcoming year? How can you surround yourself with people that will make you a better person, a better Christian, a better example of Christ?
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we ask that you help us to surround ourselves with people that will lift us up and help us be more like you. We ask that you lead us to these people and that you help us to be that person to all those in our life. Help us to be more like you. Help us to spread your love and your light to all we meet. We love you so much Lord. We think you are amazing and we want to be like you in any way that we can. We ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to spending time with you again tomorrow. Have a blessed day!