After David had finished talking with Saul, Jonathan became one in spirit with David, and he loved him as himself. From that day Saul kept David with him and did not let him return home to his family. And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself.
1 Samuel 18:1-3 (NIV)
- Choose your friends wisely.
1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”
Proverbs 16:28 (NIV)
A troublemaker plants seeds of strife; gossip separates the best of friends. (NLT)
Don’t befriend angry people or associate with hot-tempered people, or you will learn to be like them and endanger your soul.
Proverbs 22:24–25 (NIV)
- Forgive your friends willingly.
Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
Colossians 3:12-14 (NIV)
- Listen to your friends closely.
Proverbs 11:14 Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.
Proverbs 27:5-6
An open rebuke is better than hidden love! Wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy. (NLT)
- Defend your friends fiercely.
9 Two people are better off than one, for they can help each other succeed. 10 If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But someone who falls alone is in real trouble. 11 Likewise, two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone? 12 A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.5. Love your friends loyally.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-11 (NLT)
- Love your friends sacrificially.
12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
John 15:12-15
- Know the greatest friend eternally.
A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
Proverbs 18:24 (ESV)