October 27, 2026

Business by the Book

Proverbs 18:24 A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly…

On social media a person can “friend” someone or they can “unfriend” someone both with a simple click of a mouse. In real life however, it is more difficult. Developing friends takes real effort, and “unfriending” a friend in real life is much easier said than done. If a person desires to have friends, and almost all successful people do, there are at least three things they can do to gain friends.

One is found in our verse today. To have friends a person must show themselves to be friendly. Many want friends but they want them on their terms. “Accept me as I am” is their motto even though they do nothing to ingratiate themselves to others. There are thousands, perhaps millions walking through life today friendless. They wonder, “Why don’t I have any friends?”  The simple answer could be they are not friendly.

Another way to obtain friends is to be wealthy. Proverbs 19:4 states: Wealth maketh many friends…  Wealthy people do not need to be friendly to have friends. Their wealth overcomes their lack of friendliness. They may have been the friendly sort on their way to wealth, but once obtained they sometimes lose that wonderful trait of friendliness, and no doubt, the wealthy do have to be careful, for they become a target of all kinds of schemes.

A third way to gain friends is to give gifts. Proverbs 19:6 states: …every man is a friend to him that giveth gifts. Years ago, in the small town that my parents lived, there was a grocery store that had one of those soft serve ice cream machines. If you shopped at that store you could have a free ice cream cone; or two if you like. This fostered friendliness between the store and the shoppers. It was a small store and probably charged more for their items than a big store. But if I lived in that town I would shop there all of the time just because of a free ice cream cone. This small gift probably cut down on customer complaints, after all who can be mad at a store that gives away free ice cream cones! Marketers have known this forever. Give a gift, make a friend.

Want friends? Be friendly, be wealthy, and give gifts to people.

By the way, just as a parting note; Proverbs 17:17 states: A friend loveth at all times…  So much for “unfriending”! Always remember “An ex-friend was never a true friend in the first place.” 

Dr. William Howe