This article is taken from Got Questions.org. with my addition.
(This is my addition to the article) A few years back, 5 to be exact, my wife took ill with stage four liver disease caused by medicine. She was about to die. God had other plans and today, five years later she is doing well with a donor liver and progressing every day. But it was not all positive while we waited for the new liver. Not one of my minister friends stood with me. They seemingly deserted me and left me to be alone and watch my wife slowly die. That hurt because after giving so much time and effort to the same ministry as those whom I thought were friends I now stood alone with God. BUT...there was an enormous bright spot in all of this. My wife and I had a friend from a previous church with whom we stayed in constant contact by telephone, Skype, and visits. When my wife was hospitalized, Annette (our friend) would work at her day job from 5 am to 5 pm daily for four days a week and then on Friday afternoon, she would get in her car and drive to the Hospital in Philadelphia which was 3 hours away. She would stay in the room with us until Monday afternoon and then drive back to work. She did this over, and over and over for the better part of a year. She never complained, she never said she could not do it anymore, she just kept coming. While she was with us in the hospital, she would help my wife and I do therapy, baths, medicines, laundry, go for meals and so many more things that are too numerous to enumerate. When my wife was released from the hospital, she helped us pack so we could move from Pennsylvania to Florida. Then she even drove the car while I drove the moving truck all the way to Florida. When that was all settled, she would go back to Pennsylvania and plan her next trip down to help us in any way she could. She would, and still does come down our way two or three times a year. We are on the telephone and Skype constantly. I cannot write down all the things she does because I know she wants to do these things as unto the Lord. She is by far and away the friend that God talks about in the Bible. If you are looking for a definition of what a true Christian friend is, in our book it is spelled...Annette.
What is true friendship according to the Bible?The Lord Jesus Christ gave us the definition of a true friend: "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. 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 15:13-15). Jesus is the pure example of a true friend, for He laid down His life for His "friends." What is more, anyone may become His friend by trusting in Him as his personal savior, being born again and receiving new life in Him.
There is an example of true friendship between David and Saul's son Jonathan, who, in spite of his father Saul's pursuit of David and attempts to kill him, stood by his friend. You will find that story in 1 Samuel chapter 18 through chapter 20. Some pertinent passages are 1 Samuel 18:1-4; 19: 4-7; 20:11-17, 41-42.
Proverbs is another good source of wisdom regarding friends. "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity" (Proverbs 17:17). "A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother" (Proverbs 18:24). The issue here is that in order have a friend, one must be a friend. "Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses" (Proverbs 27:6). "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another" (Proverbs 27:17).
The principle of friendship is also found in Amos. "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" (Amos 3:3 KJV). Friends are of like mind. The truth that comes from all of this is a friendship is a relationship that is entered into by individuals, and it is only as good or as close as those individuals choose to make it. Someone has said that if you can count your true friends on the fingers of one hand, you are blessed. A friend is one whom you can be yourself with and never fear that he or she will judge you. A friend is someone that you can confide in with complete trust. A friend is someone you respect and that respects you, not based upon worthiness but based upon a likeness of mind.
Finally, the real definition of a true friend comes from the Apostle Paul: "For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:7-8). "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends" (John 15:13). Now, that is true friendship!
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