The Death of a Friend

To lose a friend by death is not an unusual experience, but it is a very trying and emotional one. Your heart is pulled in opposite directions. You suffer deep sadness because you will not have the association you have enjoyed. But if your friend was a faithful child of God you rejoice in the hope Christians have in the promises of God to the faithful.

Genuine and true friends are few in number. There is no measure of the value of a friend whose concern for you starts with the welfare of your soul.

The accomplishments of men are insignificant if they only have to do with material things. But a faithful Christian friend who has given his life to the service of our Savior accomplishes that which is not material or temporal, but spiritual and eternal. To leave this life as one who has lived and died "in the Lord" is to most important matter of our existence.

(I have just returned from the funeral of a friend of forty years who was a faithful soldier of the cross. Tears flowed, but joy was present. This man of God knew what mattered and lived accordingly.)