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Friendships and Bibles For a number of years I
have looked for a New King James pocket New Testament Bible because this is what
I used in the past. Finding passages was a breeze and I could get to verses
quickly. In fact, some would say a little too quickly. Over the years I wore out
a number of those pocket Bibles but the last one took the cake. Apparently my
Bible fell out of my van. When I came back to the vehicle I found my Bible
chewed up. That is right, the dog ate it! It wasn’t even my dog but it was
destroyed. For some reason the
publishing company discontinued this line of Bible. I searched on the internet
to no avail. While talking to a friend, and yes I do have a friend or two, I
mentioned my quest for a Bible. A few days later he emailed me and told me that
a Bible was in the mail. I offered to pay for it, I even told him he could chose
which child he and his wife wanted to keep, but he took nothing for the Bible.
Later on he told me he held on to this particular Bible for years. He also used
the same New King James pocket Bible in his preaching but he decided to have his
old Bible rebound so gave me the one on his shelf. I promised to make good use
of the Bible. This made me to think about
friendships and Bibles. First, friendships never
cease to amaze me. Recently Regena found a phone number of a Christian couple we
have known for many years. She gave them a call and talked for about an hour
with our sister. After that I talked with our brother. While some friendships
are temporary others are permanent. The owner of the Bible is the same friend
that drove over 12 hours to my dad’s funeral. The commonality of most of our
friendships is our service to God. Paul spoke of his love for the brethren at Second, it is not the
number of friends but the depth of the friendship that matters. “A man who has
friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a
brother” (Proverbs 18:24). Perhaps the reason that some of our friendships
last is because of the trials we have endured together. There is a certain bond
created when people face trials and turmoil’s together. As Proverbs points out
to us, we must work at our friendships. Third, some of life’s
greatest blessings come from each other. Laughter, words of encouragement and
even rebuke come from our friends. In the Book of Galatians we read where Paul
rebuked Peter for his hypocrisy with the Gentiles, see Galatians 2.11. Later on
Peter called Paul “our beloved brother” in 2 Peter 3.15. A friend will point
out our errors when it is needed and forgive us of our wrongs. Forth, friendships makes us
stronger. “As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his
friend” (Proverbs 27:17). Solomon spoke of the value of companionship in
Ecclesiastes. “Two are better than one, Because they have a good reward for
their labor” (Eccl 4:9). In today’s business world they call it synergy. It
means the total exceeds the individual parts. Our friends can make us better and
we can do the same for them. We all need some synergy in our lives. That which is said for our
friendships also can be said for our Bibles. The Bible never ceases to
amaze me. After years of reading and studying my Bible I am still learning new
things. I do not mean new in the way the people at Mars Hill were looking for
something new, but new in the sense of understanding. How many times have you
read a passage that you have read before and saw something new? It was there all
along but you missed it! We must work at
understanding all of what the Bible says. There are things that qualify as milk
and others as meat. We are to “desire the pure milk of the word” that we may
grow, 1 Peter 2.2a. The meat of the word is what we are to come to understand as
we grow spiritually. “But solid food belongs to those who are of full age,
that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both
good and evil” (Hebrews 5:14). The greatest blessings we
will ever receive will come from God’s word. “But he who looks into the
perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a
doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does” (James 1:25). It
is not through the reading but the doing of God’s word we are blessed. Jesus
used the word blessed in Matthew five, 9 times. There is a connection between
God’s word and His blessings. Finally, the Bible makes us
stronger. Faith is the product of Bible Study and application. Timothy’s faith
came from the instruction he received from his mother and grandmother, 2 Timothy
1.5. In this book Paul writes, “But you must continue in the things which you
have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, 15
and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to
make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy
3:14-15). The Bible is truly our friend.—Dennis Tucker |