A Friend Indeed?

There’s a popular saying that goes “show me your friends and I will tell you who you are”. This tells us that the friends we make are also our representatives.
Daniel had the right friends -Shedrach, Mesach and Abednego. They supported him when he made the choice not to defile himself by eating Babylonia food and they also made the same choice. As a friend, you are meant to support your friends and we are also meant to have friends that are supportive.
In Daniel chapter 2, we are told the story of how King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream and ordered the execution of all the wise men because none of them could tell him his dream and the explanation. Daniel heard about the issue, went back home and told his friends Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah also known as Shedrach, Mesach and Abednego. We are meant to have friends that we can talk when we have problems. We are meant to be good friends so that our friends can talk to us when they also have problems.
Daniel 2:18 He urged them to plead for mercy from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that he and his friends might not be executed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.
Daniel and his friends prayed together. We are supposed to have friends that can *pray with us *. For a friend to pray with you, it means he or she shares your beliefs as a Christian. We are meant to have friends that are our prayer partners. The Bible tells us in the book of Proverbs that as iron sharpens iron, so does a friend sharpens a friend. Its okay to have fun with your friends but if that’s all you do, there’s a problem.
God answered Daniel and his friends prayers and Daniel went ahead to tell Nebuchadnezzar his dream and also the meaning. Nebuchadnezzar was pleased with Daniel and he gave him a high position in the kingdom. At this point, Daniel could have abandoned his friends after all, he had gotten what he desired. But Daniel 2:49 tells us that at Daniel’s request, the King put Shedrach, Mesach and Abednego in charge of the affairs of the province of Babylon. Daniel *remembered* his friends! There are some people who remember others only in times of need and trouble, we Nigerians call those kind of people”use and dump” cause they basically use people to get what they want and then forget them. What kind of friend are you? Are you the “use and dump” kind of friend? Or the Daniel kind of friend?
At the beginning of this article, I said that our friends are our representatives. A very popular Bible story is the story of Shedrach, Mesach and Abednego in the fiery furnace. Note that Daniel wasn’t there, but they did the right thing. Imagine how proud Daniel would have felt, I’m sure he’d have been like “Yass, those are my guys😎”. Really, our friends should be people that we can vouch for. And people that can vouch for us also.
Think for a minute about the kind of friend you are and also the kind of friends you have. Pray to God to make you a better friend and also pray for your friends. Choose your friends wisely.
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