Remembering the days of my youth and in high school so many chose their friends by the status of family and the worldly possessions they had. I am not saying these weren’t good people because they were and many were true friends to each other.
Some of the students weren’t as fortunate as others and didn’t possess the quality of life as other families did. Yet so many did flaunt what they had and reached out for friendship based on possessions instead of heart felt friendship.
Many in the world today, as back in the days of my youth, reach out to people that can furnish help with worldly desires instead of grasping onto true, genuine friendship. I believe this is where the phrase “Grass is greener on the other side of the fence” comes from. Many times we tend to look at what others possess materially and envy those items or things because we don’t have them.
This gives us an ambition wanting to be close to them through friendship instead of really knowing them in a personal manner.
What is their life like? Just because they have things that really look nice doesn’t mean that their lives are in order. When we view people through a worldly perspective we may also find them envying others because of the peace and tranquility others have and they don’t.
Many times when we get close to people because of what they own or have we realize after a while that we were acting on emotions rather than an act of love and friendship. The Lord blesses us with what we need but the world tells us to go for more and many times this is to our demise.
This type of emotion can lead to jealousy and it doesn’t just rest with material items or things. It can include personal abilities, family, ideas, intelligence, recognition, or even girlfriend, boyfriend or spouse. This type of emotion includes anything and we tend to draw close to these people because we are looking at what they possess and we don’t. We say we are looking for friendship and we may well be, but sometimes we are looking for the wrong reasons.
Throughout my life time I have been blessed to be friends with people who seem to have everything materially that I thought I would like to have. On the other hand I have been blessed to have more material things than some of my other friends. These have been true friends to me and if I needed anything they would help me or vice versa. These friendships have been based on heartfelt actions instead of materialistic desires and they have lasted throughout the years.
True friends are people you want to be around or be with because of who they are and what they possess inside their heart instead of the material possessions they own.
We are told in Proverbs 27:17; “As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.” As I have been told all of my life by those I have watched and learned from, “To have a friend you must be a friend.” This is also a paraphrase of Proverbs 18:24.
Be a friend to all of those around you but choose them wisely, not because of what they have here on earth but what they have in their heart.
GARY ANDREWS' devotional appears each week on the Church Pages of your Clarksdale Press Register. You can contact him at GARY@gadevotionals.com
