Parents, a spouse, children, grandchildren, neighbors, friends—the people around us are often the greatest blessings in our lives, filling our hearts with joy, laughter, and companionship. Yet, ironically, the same people can also be some of the greatest sources of hurt, disappointment, and frustration we will ever experience. While it is impossible to prevent all hurt and conflict, our relationships with other people can be much more meaningful if we apply God’s wisdom to those relationships. The Proverbs contain wisdom for many types of relationships, but let’s take a moment to consider the wisdom of the Proverbs specifically for friendships.

The Proverbs teach us to choose our friends carefully. “The righteous should choose his friends carefully, for the way of the wicked leads them astray” (Prov. 12:26). When choosing friends who will be your inner circle, it is imperative that you choose carefully. The consequences of choosing unwisely could be disastrous and you could be led away from the right path. In another Proverb, the same point is made with a specific example. “Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man do not go, lest you learn his ways and set a snare for your soul” (Prov. 22:24-25). We must carefully choose friends who will assist us in our pursuit of holiness. This is certainly not to say you cannot have friends who are not Christians or who have sin issues to work on. Indeed, we all struggle with many things. Rather, this is to say that your closest associates should be those who are on the same trajectory of godliness, because if you make friendships with violent or angry or wicked people, you could all too easily be ensnared in their wicked ways.

We often emphasize this truth about choosing friends carefully to teens and young adults, and rightly so, for teens can be especially susceptible to peer pressure. Nevertheless, this applies to adults just as much as it applies to teens. We never outgrown the need for friendship. If you have godly friends in your life, do not take them for granted. Be the friend who loves at all times (Prov. 17:17) and refrain from doing foolish things that could ruin that friendship (Prov. 17:9). If you do not have godly friends in your life, make every effort to seek and cultivate a godly friendship today. And remember, if we want to have friends, we have to start by being friendly ourselves (Prov. 18:24). It will take time and effort, but a good friendship is worth investing in. And when we apply godly wisdom to our friendships, they can be so much more than mere social structures for doing fun things together. A godly friendship can be a comfort to our soul and a catalyst for your growth in godliness. This week, I encourage you to invest in your friendships and to thank the people who have been a godly friend to you.

Thomas Yukich

Acts 27:23

Have you ever been on the sea or the ocean during a storm? I cannot imagine the type of storm that the apostle Paul and his companions experienced that is described for us in Acts 27. Paul and Luke (maybe other companions, too) were sailing from Caesarea to Rome where Paul would stand on trial before Caesar. Their travels were slowed because of bad weather (Acts 27:7-8) and Paul warned the captain of the ship and the Roman centurion to stay put in a certain harbor. Nevertheless, they made the decision to forge on ahead with the trip, even though it was a dangerous time of the year to sail (Acts 27:9, 12). Before long, Paul and the ship encountered a terrible storm. It was so bad that the sailors threw the ship’s cargo and tackle overboard to lighten the ship. The storm would last for fourteen days (Acts 27:27). The rest of the story is fascinating, but in the middle of the account Paul says a few words that hold a lesson for us.

Sometime in the middle of that storm, Paul stood up and urged all his fellow travelers to “take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship, and he said, ‘Do not be afraid Paul; you must stand before Caesar, and behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’ So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told” (Acts 27:22-25). Did you notice what Paul said about God? He called him “the God to whom I belong and whom I worship.” Although this is not the main point in the story, it is incredibly important. With these simple words, Paul is stating two great truths about God.

First, God is the One to whom Paul belongs, and by extension, to whom we all belong. We belong to God in more than just one way: we belong to him because he created us, and we belong to him because he saved us and called us to be his children. There is no doubt in Paul’s mind; he knows that he belongs to God. Second, God is the object of Paul’s worship. Truly, God is the only rightful object of our worship. Nothing else and no one else deserves our worship. Yet God is entirely worthy of our worship, for he is perfect, holy, just, and loving. He is a jealous God who will not give his glory to any other, meaning that it is an insult against God to worship anything other than him. Paul knew that God is only One who deserves worship. Do you have this same clarity in your life? Let’s take a lesson from Paul by remembering that God is the only One to whom we belong and whom we worship!