Reflections on Friendship

My thoughts have turned to the nature of friendship tonight, as I have been reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Harry and his closest friends at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Ron and Hermione, are struggling to maintain their friendships during an extremely stressful term at the school. Obviously, I'm not for banning the Harry Potter books, but I'm also not for consulting J.K. Rowling for direction in life either. So again tonight, as I think about my friendships, old and new, I turn to the Bible and find these reflections there:

• A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. - Proverbs 17:17
• A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. - Proverbs 18:24
• Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy. - Proverbs 17:6
• All my intimate friends abhor me, and those whom I loved and turned against me. - Job 19:19
  
• Do not forsake your friend and your father's friend, and do not go to your brother's house in the day of your calamity. Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother who is far away. - Proverbs 27:10
• A dishonest man spreads strife, and a whisperer separates close friends. - Proverbs 16:28
• Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends. - John 15:13
• Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare. - Proverbs 22:24-25
• The friendship of the LORD is for those who fear him, and he makes known to them his covenant. - Psalm 25:14
• O LORD, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill? He who walks blamelessly and does what is right and speaks truth in his heart; who does not slander with his tongue and does no evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend. - Psalm 15:1-3
• Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me. - Psalm 41:9
• For it is not an enemy who taunts me -- then I could bear it; it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me -- then I could hide from him. But it is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend. We used to take sweet counsel together; within God's house we walked in the throng...My companion stretched out his hand against his friends; he violated his covenant. His speech was smooth as butter, yet war was in his heart; his words were softer than oil, yet they were drawn swords. - Psalm 55:12-14, 20-21
  
• You have caused my companions to shun me; you have made me a horror to them...You have caused my beloved and my friend to shun me; my companions have become darkness. - Psalm 88:8, 18
• Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel. - Proverbs 27:9
• The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, "Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners." But wisdom is proved right by her actions. - Matthew 11:19
  
• You are my friends, if you do what I command you. - Jesus, John 15:14
• I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body and after that have nothing more that they can do. - Jesus, Luke 12:4
  

We live in a fallen world, yet still bear the image of our glorious creator God. Like Harry, Ron and Hermione, we all struggle in our friendships. Yes, friendship is very hard at times, but we were made for it. And it is worth fighting for.