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To Have Friends We Must Be Friendly, July 19
Friendly Sociability
A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly.
Proverbs 18:24
In the arrangements for the education of the chosen people it is made
manifest that a life centered in God is a life of completeness. Every want
He has implanted, He provides to satisfy; every faculty imparted, He
seeks to develop.
The Author of all beauty, Himself a lover of the beautiful, God
provided to gratify in His children the love of beauty. He made provision
also for their social needs, for the kindly and helpful associations that do
so much to cultivate sympathy and to brighten and sweeten life.
Christian sociability is altogether too little cultivated by God’s peo-
ple.... By social intercourse acquaintances are formed and friendships
contracted which result in a unity of heart and an atmosphere of love
which is pleasing in the sight of heaven.
Everyone will find companions or make them. And just in proportion
to the strength of the friendship, will be the amount of influence which
friends will exert over one another for good or for evil. All will have
associates, and will influence and be influenced in their turn.
The link is a mysterious one which binds human hearts together, so
that the feelings, tastes, and principles of two individuals are closely
blended. One catches the spirit and copies the ways and acts of the
other. As wax retains the figure of the seal, so the mind retains the
impression produced by intercourse and association. The influence
may be unconscious, yet it is no less powerful.... If choice is made of
companions who fear the Lord, the influence will lead to truth, to duty,
and to holiness. A truly Christian life is a power for God.
* * * * *
The warmth of true friendship ... is a foretaste of the joys of heaven.
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