by by David Jeremiah
Ointment and perfume delight the heart, and the sweetness of a man’s friend gives delight by hearty counsel.
Proverbs 27:9
In November 2009, the New Oxford American Dictionary announced its word of the year was “unfriend.” A verb, its definition is: “To remove someone as a ‘friend’ on a social networking site such as Facebook.” The word “friend” appears more than fifty times in the Bible, but nowhere does “unfriend” appear. The latter is a twenty-first century invention. When Facebook introduced the notion of “friending,” users piled on to see how many friends they could accumulate. The vast majority of those people were not friends at all but pawns in a quest for status and popularity. This caused everyone to think afresh about what a friend is.
It’s a given that we all need good friends for their positive benefit in our life. Just as perfume delights the heart, Proverbs says, true friends delight the heart by their loyalty and wisdom. And just as the scent of a perfume is available to all who are near, so friendship should be available to all—especially to those who lack the comfort of closeness with others.
Do you know someone who needs a good friend? Consider how you might share your wisdom and loyalty with that person and delight their heart.
Friendship flourishes at the fountain of forgiveness.
William A. Ward