Week 22 Day 5
Don’t Betray Your Friends
Lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.
2 Corinthians 12:7
What though a thorn my bosom bears,
And varied are the wants and cares,
That mark my chequer’d way!
My God hath said, in whom I live,
“My grace is thine, and strength I give
According to thy day.”
In Lincoln’s view, disloyalty to a friend was paramount to treason. “I am willing to pledge myself in black and white to cut my own throat from ear to ear if, when I meet you, you shall seriously say that you believe me capable of betraying my friends for any price,” he wrote to a rival politician. Lincoln didn’t betray his friends for any reason. Sometimes in life we quit on our friends. They disappoint us in some way, or perhaps a quarrel separates us. Lincoln’s loyalty to his friends was what made him popular. Do you think other people perceive you as a loyal friend? What do you do to develop and keep friends? If you lack companions and relationships in your life, maybe you ought to look at how loyal you’ve been. Let your friends know you’re always there for them.