The Foundation of Friendship
Submitted by Ted Mock
July 8, 2025
Ec 4:8 There is one alone, and there is not a second; yea, he hath neither child nor brother: yet is there no end of all his labour; neither is his eye satisfied with riches; neither saith he, For whom do I labour, and bereave my soul of good? This is also vanity, yea, it is a sore travail.
This devotion is redacted quite a bit, and credit needs to be given to Dr. Scott Paulie who put the sermon on his podcast, “Enjoying the Journey,” which I highly recommend. I came across it at a time of personal need, and I trust that this feeble attempt to pass on the truth will be of help to someone else in need of a friend.
Some bullet points I took away from the podcast:
Every good relationship should be built on a good foundation, friendship.
Success and material prosperity is empty without good relationships.
If you have things without people, you are missing the best life has to offer.
The foundation of a good marriage is friendship.
If your relationship is to be strong, it must be built on true friendship.
Jesus himself treated friendship as the essential relationship of life. In John 15, Jesus said to his disciples, “I have called you friends” in verse 15, after saying in verse 14, “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.”
If you want a true friend, you must work to be that kind of friend.
He closed with four points taken from the Ecclesiastes 4:8-12
Marks of True Friendship:
Mutual concern (Vs.9) They labor together, the enemy is the devil, not each other.
Mutual comfort (Vs.10)
Mutual care (Vs.11)
Mutual conflict (Vs.12) They are friends who stand and fight together as fellow soldiers.
Mutual Christ (Vs.12) We are not independent. We are totally dependent on Christ. He is not the third cord of friendship, but the first.
Friends do not always agree with one another. We can have disagreements, but we must always agree with Christ.
Develop friendships with your wife, children, and with others who have been a friend to you. Keep your father’s friends and family friends, grow in your friendship with Christ and avoid being a friend of the world. Be a friend to lost people and share Christ with them.
In closing, you don’t have to be lonely in an empty world. You can have a friend in Christ and never be alone.
Reflection—The best things in life—are not things.
