Proverbs 19:4, 7
The wealthy has many friends; But the poor is separated from his friends. All the brethren of the poor do hate him: How much more do his friends go far from him!
Can you say “superficial? Obviously, friends who are motivated by a person’s wealth or misfortune are not friends at all: just mere acquaintances. The truth of the matter is that a true friend according to the bible is one that, “sticks closer than a brother”. Here is another quote. “A friend in need is a friend in deed.” In other words, if you want to know who your true friends are, just get yourself into any kind of a hardship or difficulty. It will not take long for you to separate the sheep from the goats.
I remember a church that I once pastured in a rural community in Mississippi. When I came in as the new pastor, there were all kinds of folks there to greet us and make us feel welcome with food and words of adulation. They helped us move our things from our moving van into the parsonage, and were so glad that we were there. But when I was moved by the presbytery to another location, no one showed up to help us move even a glass, even though I had stayed up with them for hours praying with them, counseling them, mending their marriages, and reconciling them and their children with God. Only one couple out of a congregation of over two hundred people from the church came over to tell us how much they loved us and appreciated our two years of service to them. It was no wonder that people in the community were apprehensive about attending this church.
The hard fact of the matter is that most folks are motivated by self-interest. They will be your friend, only if it is in their interest to do so. However, this is not an advisable way to live and conduct your life, because from what I have experienced life has its cycles of ups and downs, but friends are irreplaceable. Fair-weather friends usually die friendless, because their lack of faithfulness during their lifetime eventually isolates them. Consequently, when the time arrives for them to face their maker, there is no one to show mercy, because they never took the time to plant a garden from which they might reap its fruit!!
Take some time today to let someone know how much you truly appreciate them, and how much you are committed to their lives in good times, and in the more difficult ones as well. Be a faithful friend, and you will find yourself surrounded by the same!
Pastor La Vaughn
