The Nearby Friend

For Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Proverbs 27:10

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.

This proverb is not denigrating the value of family relations. But it is promoting the value of friendship, especially of friends who are with us. How guilty are we of bemoaning that we are far from family or old friends, all the while ignoring or discounting the friends God has placed around us? How guilty are we of keeping our neighbors at a distance?

But when immediate needs arise, when a calamity occurs, we will find it so much better to have a friend who is next door to aid us, than to depend upon a relative or friend who is far away. Let those who are near to you physically become those who are near to you relationally. Develop those friendships. Assume that God has placed you where you are to be a friend to those who are near. Perhaps your neighbor needs a good friend.