by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
When someone is your friend, he doesn’t stab you in the back, hurt you, and hold you at a distance. He defends you and upholds your honor. He doesn’t join in the disparaging talk of those who, for no good reason, decided that they did not like you or want you in their life. Friends stand up and defend you, or they prove they are not friends.<\/p>\n
Some friends are weak and give in to the crowd mentality, but repent of that moment of weakness. This is what you see in Peter! Was Peter a “friend” to Jesus when Jesus was being unjustly maligned? Not at that moment! But even denying that he knew Jesus was not a permanent mistake if Peter comes to himself and repents. Friends who fail us but in remorse apologize because they have a deep respect and love that cannot let things end, will come back to apologize. Others do not think you are worth the effort.<\/p>\n
Jesus had weak friends in Judas and Peter. One killed himself, and the other repented and restored his friendship. One sold Jesus out and thereby sold himself out. One denied Jesus under pressure but had enough love for Jesus and self-respect to make things right.<\/p>\n
Are the people you desire to be friends with worth enough to apologize to when you hurt them and break their heart and their confidence in the friendship? Judas cut off all opportunity for a restored friendship. Don’t cut off good people as friends, and don’t cut yourself off from possible reconciliation. Keep a door open to mending fences and bridges. In cases like Peter, prove your love by remorse followed by constructive action. That is what a real friend will do. Blessed are the forgiving peacemakers. They are true friends.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Terry Wane Benton When someone is your friend, he doesn’t stab you in the back, hurt you, and hold you at a distance. He defends you and upholds your honor. He doesn’t join in the disparaging talk of those who, for no good reason, decided that they did not like you or want you…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[233],"class_list":["post-95625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-friends"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":45499,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-jesus-dealt-with-his-friends\/","url_meta":{"origin":95625,"position":0},"title":"How Jesus Dealt with His Friends","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Steve Goff A true friend is not easily found. A trustworthy advocate who consistently manifests affection for us and who honestly seeks our best interest without ulterior motive is rare in this life. But one such friend available to all men is Jesus Christ. In temptation, we can find\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":92054,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/conditional-statements\/","url_meta":{"origin":95625,"position":1},"title":"Conditional Statements","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 11, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Hugh DeLong In John 15, Jesus speaks with the Apostles, and in what he says, we see many 'if' statements and conditional sentences. Note the list: \"If anyone does not abide in\u00a0 Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24357,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-reach-a-friend-who-is-sinning\/","url_meta":{"origin":95625,"position":2},"title":"How do I reach a friend who is sinning?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 23, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I don't know if these are the kinds of questions you answer, but I might as well ask. I have just started high school, and already I am seeing and hearing about a lot of bad things going on (smoking, drugs, drinking, sex, cursing, etc.). I try as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":25839,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-cant-one-teach-someone-of-the-opposite-gender\/","url_meta":{"origin":95625,"position":3},"title":"Why can’t one teach someone of the opposite gender?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 29, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Where did the thought process of men teaching men and women teaching women come into play? Did Jesus ever discern a difference? Shouldn\u2019t the need be met regardless of the person's gender? I have never understood it when other Christians tell others that they shouldn\u2019t study with someone of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9834,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-i-be-friends-with-an-annoying-person\/","url_meta":{"origin":95625,"position":4},"title":"Should I be friends with an annoying person?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 17, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In math class, there is a student who is kind of annoying, but very social and has other friends. He wants to be friends with me, but he annoys me, or maybe it's just his way of being a friend. For example, the last time I saw him he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31535,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-a-lie-to-friend-someone-on-facebook-that-you-dont-know\/","url_meta":{"origin":95625,"position":5},"title":"Is it a lie to friend someone on Facebook that you don’t know?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 30, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi there, Please tell me, if we have sent friend requests to people on Facebook that we had never met before and do not know that is like lying then what? Will we keep sinning by lying as long as we leave the friend requests stand to the persons\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95625\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}