Better Together Devotional: Friendship by Author and Board Member Stacy A. Davis

Family Fun Icebreaker: How are you a good friend to others?

Topic Question: What is the Right Lifestyle in God’s Community?

Today’s Big Idea: Friendship

Once you join God’s community, God wants you to live the lifestyle that He describes in the Bible. Do you know what a lifestyle according to God looks like? Let’s start by looking at friendship. What does God say a good friend is? If you are not sure, pray and ask God’s Helper, the Holy Spirit, to teach you. Reading God’s Word, the Holy Bible, will help you determine what makes a good friend. You can also learn from godly role models. God has many scriptures about friendship. Go to any Bible website and type in the search engine for the word “friend” or variations of the word “friend” in the Bible. Notice all the valuable information that you can learn about friendship from scripture! The scriptures listed below show that God encourages friends to talk to each other, give good counsel, and to share useful ideas. God even asks friends to encourage each other to be better people.

Talk with God: Read the scriptures aloud.

As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend. 

Proverb 27:17 (NLT)

Oil and perfume make the heart glad, so a man’s counsel is sweet

to his friend. Proverb 27:9 (NISB)

Walk with God: Read aloud and discuss.

Friendship is a relationship of interaction. You share, and your friend shares. You listen, and your friend listens. Your friend invites you, and you invite them. Friendship is built upon action that takes turns; it should not be one sided. To understand being a good friend, just consider how you want to be treated. What would you want in a relationship? You want someone to be loyal and stand by you; so, be loyal and stand by your friend. You want to encourage your friend to do the right thing to show integrity. Build up your friends and challenge them to see their own potential. Good friends know how to value long-time friendships, balancing time with new friends and with old friends. These are just a few ideas. There are many more ways to be a good friend!

Discuss with your family: How would you evaluate yourself on a good friend scale of 1 to 10? If 10 is the best, where do you think you fit and why? What is a way you show your friendship to others?

Prayer suggestion: Pray for God to help you be a good friend.

I will be praying for you!

Stacy

Stacy A. Davis, Author

Sky Ranch Family Devotionals 

© 2013 Stacy A. Davis, Inc. All rights reserved.