TO KEEP A FRIEND, PRACTICE FRIENDSHIP UPKEEP
UPKEEP PRACTICE 1:
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. —Exodus 20:8-10
UPKEEP PRACTICE 2:
And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” —Genesis 3:8–10
The sluggard says, “There is a lion in the road! There is a lion in the streets!” —Proverbs 26:13
And at the time for the banquet he sent his servant to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I must go out and see it. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to examine them. Please have me excused.’ And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.’ —Luke 14:17–20
FIGHT
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. —1 John 4:18–19
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. —John 15:12
UPKEEP PRACTICE 3: __GIVING GRACE
(> This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.” —John 21:19
Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy —Proverbs 27:6.
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, —Romans 3:23
And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you —Matthew 18:33