Daily Devotionals

Devotional: October 25th

“There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” (HYPERLINK "javascript:" b)

The friendship of Jesus is a theme that evokes a warm response in the hearts of His people everywhere. When He was on earth, He was derided as “a friend of publicans and sinners”, but Christians have taken the taunt and converted it to a title of honor.

Before going to the cross, our Lord called His disciples “friends.” “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you”.

Some of our best-loved hymns take up this theme; for example, “What a friend we have in Jesus”; “There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus”; and “I’ve found a friend, oh, such a friend.”

Why does the friendship of Jesus strike such a responsive chord? I think the primary reason is that many people are lonely. They may be surrounded by other people, yet not surrounded by friends. Or they may be largely cut off from intercourse with others. This is often the case with older people who have outlived their contemporaries.

Loneliness is cruel. It is bad for a person’s physical, mental and emotional health. It gnaws away at his morale, sets his nerves on edge, and makes him weary of life. Often it drives people to desperation so that they are willing to compromise with sin or take other insane plunges. To such people the friendship of Jesus comes with the healing properties of the balm of Gilead.

Another reason why His friendship is so appreciated is that it never fails. Human mends often let us down or drift out of our lives, but this Friend proves true and steadfast.

Earthly friends may fail and leave us,

One day soothe, the next day grieve us;

But this Friend will ne’er deceive us. Oh, how He loves!

Jesus is the Friend who sticks closer than a brother. He is the Friend who loves at all times.

The fact that the Lord Jesus is not bodily present with us does not set a limit on the reality of His friendship. Through the Word He speaks to us, and in prayer we speak to Him. It is in this way that He makes Himself real to us as the Friend we need. It is in this way that He answers the prayer,

Lord Jesus, make Thyself to me a living, bright reality;

More present to faith’s vision keen than any earthly object seen;

More dear, more intimately nigh than e’en the closest earthly tie.

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