Brotherly Love - Proverbs 17:17
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Introduction
Introduction
17 A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.
Proverbs 17:17 reveals the CHOOSING of friends & BEING friend
TIM MACKIE SHORT RESPONSE ON PROVERBS 17:17
We’re invited to meditate on the value of loyal, close friendships—relationships that are as deep, or even deeper, than family.
It’s interesting: in the storyline of the Bible, sibling relationships are often used to explore the human condition—what’s right with it, and more often, what’s wrong.
Think of all the examples:
Cain and Abel, the very first brothers, and one murders the other.
Jacob and Esau, brothers who swindle and deceive each other.
Joseph and his brothers, who sell him into slavery.
Even Rachel and Leah, sisters caught in rivalry as Jacob’s wives.
These stories reveal how broken relationships—especially among those closest to us—can hinder our ability to flourish as images of God.
But this proverb flips the script. It highlights the beauty and power of loyal love.
“A friend loves at all times.”
Most of us have experienced people who love us sometimes, when it's convenient or easy. But that kind of love is unstable—not something you can rely on.
In contrast, a true friend, or a sibling, is someone who shows up in times of adversity. They're not just there for the good days—they’re born for the hard days.
And maybe this proverb is an invitation for us to reflect:
Who are those people in our lives?
Are we nurturing those relationships?
Is there someone we need to call today—or send a message to—just to say, “Hey, I value you”?
Because those kinds of friendships—they might just be God’s gift to help us become the person He’s calling us to be.
ADDITIONAL PASSAGES
16 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.
14 “He who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
3 Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 So you will find favor and good success in the sight of God and man.
9 Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friends.
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.
15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.
22 Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart,
