Proverbs 17:17 KJV
[17] A friend loveth at all times, And a brother is born for adversity.
A friend is defined as ""a person with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, typically one exclusive of sexual or family relations". It means that a friend is someone to whom you are also a friend; two or more people who share a bond of mutual affection. It is not a one-way street, where one person does all the affection, and others are content wiith being passive, or just taking in as much as they can without a plan to ever give anything back in return. It is also a demand on both the inward and the outward, because it is what you have stored up inside that is available to be shared with other people. You cannot give what you don't have, and you cannot fake it until you make it. You either have it to show others, or you are in the process of building up your capacity to show it to others, but you cannot sit down and do nothing, and expect that others will have a duty and responsibility to be a friend to you, as described above.
There will be times when the tank is empty or in need of filling up, but that should be as a result of your giving out to others. You will not demand friendship from someone to whom you have no intention of being a friend to. I also note that a friend loves at ALL times. It is not about deserving the friendship; it is about who I am and what I have to give. I do not wait for my friend to earn it; I am not always measuring the response I get with what I will also give. I just give all I have because it is who I am. We do not wait for friends to be deserving; our friendship is all that counts. Do you have such a friend that you can be this open and vulnerable with? Can you actually be described in the way a friend has been defined above? I also note that the word 'love' is used to describe the output of a friend. It has to be the version God approves, not all the fake versions that everyone is banding around these days.
There is therefore additional dimension in the verse above, and this is about the times of trouble that will definitely come on everyone in the world. We are in a fallen world, and we will not survive on our own. That is why there is a support system in place for times when trouble comes calling. As we are subject to the sinful nature from birth, the natural order of things will apply to us. We would meet with Christ, and there will be an inner change, but as long as we are clothed in the human body, trouble will never be too far away. We have been uniquely placed to be a solution to the trouble the world may bring. We have been placed, planted, purposely gifted and then surrounded with people who need what we are and have. Being a brother is a unique experience; we call people we are linked to by blood brothers; the blood of Jesus makes me part of a family and the shared humanity with Adam makes me part of the human race. Can I be trusted to be a solution to the world around me, or am I part of the problem? Am I a friend or brother, or just a pest and bother? Which are you? God's time of favour is here.
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