“A man who has friends must show himself friendly.”

— Proverbs 18:24

Some people may wonder why they have so few friends. But the Bible says to have friends, you must be a friend.

Dale Carnegie in his famous book How To Win Friends and Influence People said this: “Why should people be interested in you unless you are first interested in them?”

A well-known maxim puts it this way:

I went out to find a friend,
but could not find one there.
I went out to be a friend,
and friends were everywhere.

Carnegie said that the greatest lesson he ever learned about human relations, he learned in his youth from a dog named “Tippy,” a little yellow-haired dog with a stub tail. When Tippy would see him coming, he would run up to him, his short stubby tail wagging so hard that his whole body was wagging. He would lick his hands and run around his ankles and want to be petted. He was so genuinely friendly to Carnegie that he just could not possibly keep from petting that little dog. Tippy knew a great lesson, a great secret about relationships. He had no lack of friends because he showed himself friendly.

Show yourself friendly; think about others. Instead, we are so eager to go out and wigwag people into being impressed with us, thinking they will then be our friends. People couldn’t care less about that.

It is good to make friends, especially those whom we can build up in Christ. As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

Triune God, You who created us for fellowship with You and with each other, I thank You today for my friends. Help me to be a good friend to those You have placed in my life…

BY GOD’S STRENGTH, WE CAN
BE A GOOD FRIEND TODAY.