Today my son Dennis and I took my grandson Brandon to see the movie Cars 2 before Brandon returned to Florida. The theme of Cars 2 was friendship. One of the phrases in the movie was, “A good friend is a great treasure.” I agree with that statement, and actually believe that we can determine the “wealth” of our lives not by how much money we have, but by how many real quality friends we have. Friends are important to me, and I am so grateful for the friends I have.

Friends were also important to Jesus. Jesus had a number of friends when He lived on Earth. He had friends like Lazarus, Mary and Martha. He counted His 12 disciples as friends (at least 11 of them were). Among the disciples, 3 of them (Peter, James and John) were very close to Jesus. Since Jesus valued friendships so highly, so should we.

The 3 most important decisions we will ever make are: 1) Who am I going to worship – which determines our spiritual happiness, 2) Who am I going to marry – which determines our marital happiness, and 3) Who am I going to have as my friends – which determines our emotional happiness. That’s how crucial friends are to our lives.

However, we must have the right kind of friends if we are to live a strong, healthy and productive life. Lots of people have made foolish decisions in life and gotten themselves into trouble simply because they started hanging with the wrong type of “friends.” Proverbs 12:26 reads, “The righteous should choose his friends carefully, for the way of the wicked leads him astray.”

The Bible says in Proverbs 17:17 that “a friend loves at all times.” That tells us that good friends are selfless and steadfast. The last part of Proverbs 17:17 says that “a brother is born for adversity.”  That tells us that good friends are willing to sacrifice and stick with us during the difficult times of life. Then, Proverbs 27:17 reads, “As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.” That verse tells us that good friends help us become stronger and more like the Lord. Someone wrote to their friend and said, “I love you not for what you are, but for what I am when I am with you. I love you, not only for what you have made of yourself, but for what you are making of me.” The test of a true friend is – are we a better person because of that friend.

So my question to you today is, do you have any good and godly friends, and how have they improved your life?

I look forward to hearing your responses, and I pray that you find and maintain some good and godly friendships in the days ahead.