Jesus is a Faithful Friend

When Jonathan Edwards lay dying, he gave instructions for his funeral to his daughter Lucy, and after settling his affairs, he remarked, and asked to my children, you are now like to be left fatherless, which I hope will be an inducement to you all to seek a father who will never fail you. Then, after leaving more messages for his absent members of the family, he looked about and said, now, where is Jesus of Nazareth, my true and never failing friend? And on March 22, 1758, Edwards left this world at the age of 54 to go be with his faithful friend, Jesus. In John's Gospel in chapter 15 and verse 15, we read, henceforth, I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth, but I have called you friends for all things that I have heard of my father I have made known unto you.

Jesus is a friend who can be counted on. He has never failed me, though other friends have. Jesus is a faithful friend who can be relied upon in sunshine and in sorrow, in prosperity and adversity.

No matter the trial you are under, he will get you through. Jesus is a faithful friend all the way to the end. We may disappoint him, but he won't ever disappoint us.

I am reminded of a story about a farmer and his dog. The dog had been very useful to him, but now it was getting old. His master decided to get rid of him by drowning him, taking the dog with him to a large river near his farm.

He got to a boat and rowed out to the deepest part. Around the dog's neck he tied a cord attached to a heavy stone. Then he threw it into the water, and the poor dog sank.

But the cord broke and rising to the surface with a whine, he tried to get into the boat again. Unmoved, his master pushed him off a number of times with an oar. Finally, the farmer stood up in the boat, intending to strike the dog a blow with the oar that would send it to the bottom of that cold river.

As he swung the oar, he lost his footing, and he fell over into the water. He could not swim and would have drowned. But when the dog saw his master struggling in the water, in spite of the cruel treatment it had just received from him, it swam up to him, caught hold of his clothes, and brought him safe to land.

We can only hope that that farmer had a change of heart and repaid his faithful friend for saving his life by caring for it the rest of its days. I know the feeling. I have a little dog, a little chihuahua, and she loves to sit in my lap and go wherever I go.

When there is someone at the door, she barks to protect me. She knows when I am sad and lonely, and she comforts me. She is a faithful friend.

But that little dog pales in comparison to my true faithful friend Jesus. He has never let me down, and he will never, ever let me go. He hung naked on a bloody cross for sin, because he loved me and gave himself for me.

He's been with me in my deepest griefs and darkest hours. His presence has always pulled me through. He wants to be with me when no one else does.

He comforts me when nobody else can. Like the hymn says, he walks with me, and he talks with me, and tells me I'm his own. And the joy we share as I tarry there, no other I've ever known.