Be Tactful

"Tact is the ability to close your mouth before someone else wants to." -- Unknown

Emotional Support

At any given time, someone you know is going through a struggle. We all need friends to help us up when we´re down. Who could use your encouragement right now? A call from you may be all they need to keep going. Call them -- remember, tomorrow you may need that call!

"Two are better than one...For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up." Eccles. 4:9-10

Stay Clear of Users

Avoid the "user" friend. Are you emotionally drained after being with certain people? Are they always asking for help or money, but never repaying it? Do they demand unreasonable favors? With a "user" for a friend, you will never need enemies! Go a second mile once, maybe twice, but after that you need to firmly refuse his requests. A "user friendly" friend simply isn´t very friendly!

Psalm 41:9, "Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me."

Friends are Burden Bearers

If you don´t have at least one friend you can share your deepest sorrow with, you need to cultivate a new friend immediately. Sharing your burdens will make them lighter. The Native American Indians called a friend "one-who-carries-my-sorrows-on-his-back." (By the way, is there someone who needs to share a sorrow with you? Be a friend and call them today!)

"Bear ye one another´s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ." Galatians 6:2

Avoid Liars

Avoid "friends" who lie to you. The following illustration says it all:

A young girl found a small snake almost frozen to death. "Little girl, I am going to die if you don´t help me," the snake implored. "Please put me under your coat and warm me."
"But you are a poisonous snake! You will bite and kill me!" protested the girl.
"Oh, no, child. I could never hurt the one who saved my life."
So the little girl took pity on the half-frozen snake and held him to her bosom until he was warm and lively again. Then the snake suddenly lunged and struck her in the neck with his fangs.
"You lied!" cried the horrified girl. "You said you would never hurt me!"
"Ah," replied the snake as he slithered away, "but you knew what I was when you picked me up."

Proverbs 18:21, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof."

Nothing Between Us

"If there must be something between you and a brother, let it be God." -- Maurice Berquist

Fill Another´s Need

When you find someone with a need and fill it, you´ve become a valuable friend. You can be sure the man beaten by thieves in the Parable of the Good Samaritan became the Samaritan´s loyal friend for life. Maybe your own special friend is waiting for you just around the corner. Why not peep around and see who´s there?

Luke 10:33-34, "But a certain Samaritan...had compassion...and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him."

Be the Kind of Friend You Want

A real friend will be the kind of friend he wants for himself. A true friend loves us when we don´t deserve it, lifts us emotionally, lovingly tells us the truth we don´t want to hear, and reminds us of the things that are important. Be that kind of friend, and you will be rewarded with a like friend in return.

"Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." Proverbs 27:6

I Prayed For a Friend

I Asked God for a Friend

I asked God for water,
He gave me an ocean.
I asked God for a flower,
He gave me a garden.
I asked God for a tree,
He gave me a forest.
I asked God! for a friend,
He gave me YOU. --Unknown

Beware the Angry Person

Don´t make close friendships with angry people. An angry person is capable of destroying your family, your reputation, and may even take your life, intentionally or unintentionally. If you are in a relationship with an angry person, back away -- but use CAUTION. (If YOU are the angry person, you need to get some immediate help and learn to control it. You owe that to yourself and to those you love.)

Proverbs 22:24-25, "Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul."

Be Friendly

If you want a friend, you have to be friendly. It´s that simple! If you don´t have any friends, or feel you don´t, it´s time to find a new friend or renew an old friendship. You do that by being friendly. Don´t sit around waiting for one to show up on your doorstep like an abandoned puppy! Dale Carnegie said, "You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in more people, than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you."


Proverbs 18:24, "A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly."

Birds of a Feather?

Alexander Craig said, "A man is known by the company he keeps out of." While we all have friends whose convictions are different than ours, we should be careful when those friends begin to pull us down from what we believe and highly value. It would be much better to confront them and explain your position. You might inspire them to climb higher themselves. Be prepared, however, to give them up if necessary to hold to your own principles.

Amos 3:3, "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?"

Support in Temptation

Adults face peer pressure, too, and there is strength in numbers.. It´s easier to resist temptation if you can say, "WE won´t do that." Choose friends who will stand with you rather than those that would pull you down to a lower level. George Washington said, "Associate with men of good quality, if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company."

"Two are better than one...and if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken." Eccles. 4:9a, 12

Be Interested

"You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in more people, than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you." -- Dale Carnegie

Users Are Losers

A good example of a "user-friendly" friend is found in Proverbs 22:26-27. Here, we are warned not to be "surety" (a warrantor ) for another´s debt, or we might find our own bed taken out from under us! Maybe that will help you say "no" the next time someone asks you to co-sign a loan when you know their track record isn´t good. Tell them it´s in the Bible!

"Be not thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are sureties for debts. If thou hast nothing to pay, why should he take away thy bed from under thee?" Proverbs 22:26-27

Winning Others With Winning Ways

Once you´ve offended others, it`s hard to regain their confidence. Here are some ways to win and KEEP a friend. (From Proverbs 18.)

1.) Speak Wisely, v.4
2.) Avoid Argument, v.6
3.) Refrain from Gossip, v.8
4.) Practice Humility, v.12
5.) Listen Before Speaking, v.13
6.) Be Generous, v.16
7.) Be Polite, v.23
8.) Be Friendly, v.34

"A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle." Pro. 18:19

Support During a Crisis

A friend is the one who comes when everyone else has gone, the one to whom we can say, "I can´t take this alone, but with you, I´ll get through." David in anguish cried out to his Best Friend, "Give ear to my prayer, O God; and hide not thyself from my supplication … My heart is sore pained within me: and the terrors of death are fallen upon me." (Ps. 55:1,4) But by the end of the psalm, David had found the faith and strength he´d asked for. (vs. 22, 23b) Our greatest Friend will be there when all others have forsaken us. God is "a friend that sticketh closer than a brother." Proverbs 18:24

With a Friend Like This...

Little Tommy knew the value of friendship, even one less than perfect. When he asked to go out and play with Jimmy, his daddy answered, "Why, you don´t even like Jimmy very much." After thinking a moment, Tommy replied, "Then, can I go out and fight with him?"

"Thine own friend, and thy father´s friend, forsake not...better is a neighbour that is near than a brother far off." Proverbs 27:10

Go Away From Yourself

Most of us selfishly want friends for what they can do for us, but we should want friends just as much for what we can do for them. Here is the true secret to finding a friend, from the little book "Apples of Gold":

I went out to find a friend,
And could not find one there.
I went out to be a friend,
And friends were everywhere!

Luke 6:31, "And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise."