339 Best Church Friends Quotes: Christian Friendship (2023)

1. “A sweet friendship refreshes the soul.” Proverbs 27:9b [MSG]

2. “To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”

3. “The ultimate treasures on earth and in heaven are our children.”

4. Friends are those rare people who ask how we are and then wait to hear the answer. Ed Cunningham

5. God knows how to make my day. He showers me with his love by giving me a friend who’s a sister/brother at heart. Thank you for being such a wonderful friend. You make good times even better and hard times a lot easier.

6. If your friend isn’t leading you to Christ but away from Him, has nothing to do with that person. Samuel Zulu

7. Secular: You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with

8. “Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.”

9. If Jesus isn’t at the center of your friendship, selfishness and not true love will be the order of the day. Samuel Zulu

10. “And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history—money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery—the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.”

11. “A single rose can be my garden…a single friend, my world.”

12. “God wants to save us in a people. He does not want to save us in isolation. And so today's church more than ever is accentuating the idea of being a people. The church therefore experiences conflicts, because it does not want a mass; it wants a people. A mass is a heap of persons, the drowsier the better, the more compliant the better. The church rejects communism's slander that it is the opium of the people. It has no intention of being the people's opium. Those that create drowsy masses are others. The church wants to rouse men and women to the true meaning of being a people. What is a people? A people is a community of persons where all cooperate for the common good.”

13. “There are few friends who are with us through thick and thin, one of them is Jesus, happy friendship day.”

14. “I Work With Prostitutes”-The Negative Effects of Prostitution

15. Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor. Ecclesiastes 4:9

16. “I have learned now that while those who speak about one’s miseries usually hurt, those who keep silence hurt more.”

17. “Some friends play at friendship but a true friend sticks closer than one’s nearest kin.”

18. “When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, ‘Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?’ He said to him, ‘Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Feed my lambs.’”

19. “God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.” - C.S. Lewis

20. True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldom known until it is lost. -Charles Caleb Colton

21. He that covereth a transgression seeketh love; but he that repeateth a matter separateth very friends. Proverbs 17:9

22. “In family relationships love is really spelled t-i-m-e, time.”

23. Surround yourself with friends of good character that will influence you positively. Samuel Zulu

24. St John Chrysostom: While being virtuous is hard, and more challenging on one’s own, it is particularly so when the one practicing it experiences a dearth of good men. I mean, just as travel involves hardship, and much more so when the traveler is alone and has no one with whom to share the journey, so too in this case. In other words, fellowship and fraternal encouragement are no small thing.

25. Be generous

26. No friendship is worth disappointing Jesus over. Samuel Zulu

27. My best friend is the man who in wishing me well wishes it for my sake. -Aristotle

28. “Don’t waste your time trying to explain yourself to people that are committed to misunderstanding you. Instead, commit your time to explaining who they are to them. When you get a person to see the positive similarities you share, it begins to restore the loss of respect between you.”

29. “God allows us to experience the low points of life in order to teach us lessons that we could learn in no other way.”

30. “Die before you die, there is no chance after.”

31. “Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.”

32. “Do not dare not to dare.”

33. Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man, thou shalt not go. Proverbs 22:24

34. No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow. -Alice Walker

35. “Friendship is the golden thread that ties the heart of all the world.”

36. “It would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

37. “The real church is comprised of a long list of "formers" who collectively work together for world reform.”

38. Have no time for selfish and unreliable friends who just want to get something from you as they are sent from the devil to steal God’s blessings from your life. Samuel Zulu

39. Those who are generous are blessed. Thank you for sharing, caring, and loving us during our stay. Thank you for your hospitality.

40. “Remember He is the artist and you are only the picture. You can’t see it. So quietly submit to be painted—i.e., keep fulfilling all the obvious duties of your station (you really know quite well enough what they are!), asking forgiveness for each failure and then leaving it alone. You are in the right way. Walk—don’t keep on looking at it.”

41. All-natural human friendships have selfish motives in them because we are all born with a selfish nature due to our fallen state. Samuel Zulu

42. There is no greater love than to lay down your life for your friend’s wellbeing as Jesus Christ did for His disciples. Samuel Zulu

43. “To the world you may be just one person, but to one person you may be the world.”

44. “A day without laughter is a day wasted.” Charlie Chaplin

45. If you have God on your side, then you don’t need to worry about fake friends leaving you unexpectedly. Samuel Zulu

46. It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

47. You are a beautiful reflection of our Savior’s love. Thank you for touching my heart and changing my life. Thank you for being my best friend. Thank you for being who you are.

48. A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24

49. “But you shall meet me, dear one,” said Aslan.

50. “It was when I was happiest that I longed most…The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing…to find the place where all the beauty came from.”

51. “A man can no more diminish God’s glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word ‘darkness’ on the walls of his cell.”

52. “The Future Has Many Faces” – A Reflection

53. St Isaac the Syrian: A chaste body is dearer to God than a pure offering. Both, however, prepare a dwelling-place for the Trinity in the soul. Walk with thy friends in a reserved attitude; in doing so thou wilt be of profit unto thyself and unto them. For usually under the pretext of friendship the soul casts off the reins of watchfulness.

54. Sometimes life can be challenging, and that certainly has been the case for me lately. The events in our lives can bring us and down and take our focus off of Christ. Thank you for coming alongside me and cheering me up. Your words lifted my spirit and returned my focus to the correct place. May God bless you!

55. “The great thing to remember is that though our feelings come and go God’s love for us does not.”

56. A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24 ESV

57. “On your birthday let your heart leap for joy, and praise God with song!” —Psalm 28:7

58. “It doesn’t matter if you're a red state or a blue state. When it comes to our country we are all living in this country together and when it comes to our home you and your partner need to be each other's backbone.” - Skye Marshall, Actress

59. Love is flower like; Friendship is like a sheltering tree. -Samuel Taylor Coleridge

60. “Distance cannot matter – ours is a friendship of the heart.” Mary Anne Radmacher

61. “The homemaker has the ultimate career. All other careers exist for one purpose only – and that is to support the ultimate career. ”

62. Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, ‘You too? I thought I was the only one. C. S Lewis

63. “What you see and what you hear depends a great deal on where you are standing. It also depends on what sort of person you are.”

64. Thank you for making my [party/baby shower/wedding/housewarming] a success. I am humbled and grateful for everything you do and thank our God in all my remembrance of you.

65. “With you, dear friend of my heart, I have learned so many wonderful things about life that I didn’t know until you came along.”

66. My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me. -Henry Ford

67. Be loyal

68. St Augustine: No friends are true friends unless You, my God, bind them fast to one another through the love which is sown in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

69. “A good friend is like a four-leaf clover: hard to find and lucky to have.”

70. Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit. -Aristotle

71. “The one who thankfully accepts sickness is on the same level as the martyrs”

72. “Better to be miserable with her than happy without her. Let our hearts break provided they break together. If the voice within us does not say this it is not the voice of Eros.”

73. “Every time I am with you, I feel something of God in you as you always have a smile and beautiful details with me.”

74. “Thank you” is such a trivial way to express my gratitude to you. My fears had overtaken me, and it was as if I was stuck. Your strength allowed me to get past my fears and move forward. May the Lord bless you for your help!

75. “If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end; if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin, and in the end, despair.”

76. Your simple acts of love show me that you love others as God loves you. Your kindness never fails to put a smile on my face and warm my heart. Thank you.

77. “There is no doubt, nor will there ever be, that the Lord is the most beautiful thing that can exist on the planet called earth. He is our strength and our life.

78. “If a man thinks he is not conceited, he is very conceited indeed.”

79. Your generosity is absolutely amazing, and my gift was very touching. I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.

80. “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.” – Psalm 34:8 (NIV)

81. The work of a pastor is without end. I know that there is a great deal you miss out on because you’re following the leading of the Lord to be our shepherd. I wanted you to know how much I appreciate your sacrifice and how much I appreciate you. God bless you, Pastor!

82. “Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.” – Mother Teresa

83. Friendship can be the reason you fail to fulfill God’s purpose for your life as Satan will use bad friends to frustrate God’s plan for your life. Samuel Zulu

84. “Sometimes it takes only one act of kindness and caring to change a person’s life.”

85. “Because free will, though it makes evil possible, is also the only thing that makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having.”

86. “Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: “What! You too? I thought I was the only one.”

87. “A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is… A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in.”

88. “When you argue against Him you are arguing against the very power that makes you able to argue at all: it is like cutting off the branch you are sitting on.”

89. “In spite of the distance, my little friend, I want you to know that there is not a day that goes by that I don’t stop remembering the beautiful moments we have shared and to thank the Lord for having you as a friend. Many blessings.”

90. “God has nothing to do with church business.”

91. Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Psalm 133:1

92. “He died not for men, but for each man. If each man had been the only man made, He would have done no less.”

93. No friend in this world is worth losing your salvation or eternal life for which only Jesus, not your so-called friends can give you. Samuel Zulu

94. “As a Christian, I know my life is in God’s hands. He has a plan for me. Therefore, I never worry about tomorrow… That knowledge gives me a lot of composure in tough situations.” – Tom Landry

95. One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood. -Lucius Annaeus Seneca

96. “Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed.”

97. “When you love what you have, you have everything you need.”

98. Is any pleasure on Earth as great as a circle of Christian friends? C. S. Lewis

99. “Mental pain is less dramatic than physical pain, but it is more common and also more hard to bear. The frequent attempt to conceal mental pain increases the burden: it is easier to say “My tooth is aching” than to say “My heart is broken.”

100. “The Future Has Many Faces” – A Reflection4

101. “To what will you look for help if you will not look to that which is stronger than yourself?”

102. Your helping hand has been a real blessing for me. I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus.

103. Depth of friendship does not depend on length of acquaintance. -Rabindranath Tagore

104. “No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear.”

105. “It is a very funny thing that the sleepier you are, the longer you take about getting to bed.”

106. Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light. -Helen Keller

107. “Because friendship is sharing and sharing is something that God likes, happy friendship day.”

108. “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

109. “[God] will not be used as a convenience. Men or nations who think they can revive the Faith in order to make a good society might just as well think they can use the stairs of heaven as a shortcut to the nearest chemist’s shop.”

110. “I think that if God forgives us we must forgive ourselves. Otherwise, it is almost like setting up ourselves as a higher tribunal than Him.”

111. “God wants every member of the Body of Christ to be a blessing one to another; that’s why, everyone has to be involved in a ministry.”

112. Let your kindness be a godly example to your fellow Christian friends and brethren in Christ. Samuel Zulu

113. “It is more important than ever to make our families the center of our lives and the top of our priorities.”

114. Special occasions are beautiful opportunities to celebrate, but how much more special when enjoyed with friends in Christ. Your presence blessed me and made the celebration complete. Thank you for coming, and God bless you!

115. “We change the world when we meet the needs of others.” Kristen Welch

116. “You come of the Lord Adam and the Lady Eve,” said Aslan. “And that is both honour enough to erect the head of the poorest beggar, and shame enough to bow the shoulders of the greatest emperor on earth. Be content.”

117. “Crying is all right in its own way while it lasts. But you have to stop sooner or later, and then you still have to decide what to do.”

118. “Are -are you there too, Sir?” said Edmund.

119. The greatest healing therapy is friendship and love. -Hubert H. Humphrey

120. “We didn’t realise we were making memories, we were just having fun.” Winnie the Pooh.

121. “The claims of friendship, moreover, are not to be confined within too narrow range, for it embraces all to whom love and kindly affection are due, although the heart goes out to some of these more freely, to others more cautiously.”

122. “Children will not remember you for the material things you provided, but for the feeling that you cherished them.”

123. “A righteous man is cautious in friendship, but the way of the wicked leads them astray."

124. “The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us.”

125. “There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship.” Thomas Aquinas

126. Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter; whoever finds one has found a treasure. I am ever grateful to the Lord because I found that treasure in you. Thank you for reaching out to me and touching my life with God’s love.

127. “I didn’t go to religion to make me happy. I always knew a bottle of Port would do that. If you want a religion to make you feel really comfortable, I certainly don’t recommend Christianity.”

128. “For by me your days will be multiplied, And years of life will be added to you.” —Proverbs 9:11

129. “It is safe to tell the pure in heart that they shall see God, for only the pure in heart want to.”

130. Christian friends are a blessing from God which is why you must not take them for granted. Samuel Zulu

131. Choose friends that will draw you closer to God and not away from Him. Samuel Zulu

132. Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 ESV

133. “Oh, Adam’s sons, how cleverly you defend yourselves against all that might do you good!”

134. “For you will certainly carry out God’s purpose, however you act, but it makes a difference to you whether you serve like Judas or like John.”

135. “The hand that pockets the corrupt coin places it in the collection plate seeking absolution.”

136. “If it were not for the Lord it would not have been possible for us to meet. I am a faithful believer that all the good things that happen in people’s lives are works of him.”

137. “Everyone thinks forgiveness is a lovely idea until he has something to forgive.”

138. Think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flames within us. Albert Schweitzer

139. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13 ESV

140. “It isn’t Narnia, you know,” sobbed Lucy. “It’s you. We shan’t meet you there. And how can we live, never meeting you?”

141. “A true friend sticks by you like family.” Proverbs 18:24b

142. “A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees.”

143. Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend. Proverbs 27:17

144. Be you

145. May the Lord bless you and keep you; may the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. Thank you for serving with a willing heart and joyful spirit.

146. Any true Christian friendship is based on the true agape love of Christ that is sacrificial. Samuel Zulu

147. “I Work With Prostitutes”-The Negative

148. “I am,” said Aslan. “But there I have another name. You must learn to know me by that name. This was the very reason why you were brought to Narnia, that by knowing me here for a little, you may know me better there.”

149. “Hardship often prepares an ordinary person for an extraordinary destiny.”

150. “Human history is the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.”

151. In matters of equity between man and man, our Savior has taught us to put my neighbor in place of myself, and myself in place of my neighbor. Isaac Watts

152. Friends are the siblings God never gave us. -Mencius

153. A true friend never gets in your way unless you happen to be going down. -Arnold H. Glasow

154. .”..Friendship is not a reward for our discriminating and good taste in finding one another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each of us the beauties of others.”

155. “Family time is sacred time and should be protected and respected.”

156. “While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about.”

157. “The truth is that church by its nature is a very general concept and most people are not looking for a church; otherwise, churches would be full of visitors every week. What people are looking for is something that works for them as individuals. And that is something specific, not general.”

158. Words are not enough to express how grateful I am for the help you gave me. May the Lord repay you for what you have done.

159. I wanted to thank you, Pastor, for the many hours you sacrifice to work on your sermons and all the other ways you minister to us. You are always looking out for your congregation. Thank you for your selflessness and your faithfulness!

160. “If God is your partner, make your plans BIG!” – D.L. Moody

161. “I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself the answer. Before your face questions die away. What other answer would suffice?”

162. Surround yourself with friends who will influence you in a godly way. Samuel Zulu

163. “Thank you for all the times you have been with me, in good times and bad, I feel blessed to know that I have a special person in my life, I love you so much friend.”

164. “Then Jonathan made a covenant with David, because he loved him as his own soul. Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that he was wearing, and gave it to David, and his armor, and even his sword and his bow and his belt.”

165. St John of Kronstadt: Strive by every means constantly to rejoice the Heavenly Father by your life; that is, by your meekness, humility, gentleness, obedience, abstinence, right judgment, love of peace, patience, mercy, sincere friendship with worthy people, kindness to everybody, cordial hospitality, universal benevolence, accuracy in business, simplicity of heart and character, and by the purity of all your thoughts.

166. Love and kindness are never wasted. So are God’s grace and blessings upon those who’ve touched many hearts and changed many lives. Thank you for your kindness and generosity.

167. Thank you so much for the generosity you have shown me by giving me such a wonderful gift. It was as if you knew the exact gift I wanted, and it truly blessed me. Thank you, and may the Lord God bless you!

168. “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

169. “Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained.”

170. “Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”

171. “Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one–the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts,…Your affectionate uncle, Screwtape.”

172. “There is but one good; that is God. Everything else is good when it looks to Him and bad when it turns from Him.”

173. “Adventures are never fun while you’re having them.”

174. The language of friendship is not words but meanings. -Henry David Thoreau

175. “It’s the friends you can call up at 4 a.m. that matter.”

176. “God teaches us to number our days, that we may present to Him a heart of wisdom.” —Psalm 90:12

177. “May our lives and gentle spirit be evident to all that we are members of God's family.”

178. “We live, in fact, in a world starved for solitude, silence, and private: and therefore starved for meditation and true friendship.”

179. “We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another.”

180. “Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him.”

181. “I learned that friends are: For cold, shelter. For darkness, light. For fear, shelter. For adversity, hope. I love you so much for being my unconditional friend.”

182. “When you invite people to share in your miracle, you create future allies during rough weather.”

183. Prayers are a vital part of our Christian lives, so when you were willing to pray on my behalf, it moved me deeply. My gratitude is given freely to the Lord and you. Thank you for your prayer support and for making my life easier!

184. True Christian friendship isn’t just about feelings and mere words but what you can do and sacrifice for each other when it counts. Samuel Zulu

185. Thank you, our dear Pastor, for being a shepherd with the smell of your sheep, in the midst of your people, like Jesus the Good Shepherd.

186. “There are so many battles worth fighting for. The ones not worth fighting are the insecure battles that rage in another person’s mind.”

187. “What draws people to be friends is that they see the same truth. They share it.”

188. If you associate yourself with Christian friends who help you grow in the Lord; you will be established in him. Samuel Zulu

189. “Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.”

190. “There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously – no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption.”

191. “Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.”

192. “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

193. The celebration would not have been possible if it wasn’t for your help and your lovely presence. May God be glorified in all the things you do, and may your life be to the praise of his name.

194. “Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man… It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition is gone, pride is gone.”

195. “God is no fonder of intellectual slackers than He is of any other slacker.”

196. A godly friendship that leads you to the Lord and not away from him is the kind of friendship you must strive to have with anyone. Samuel Zulu

197. “Look for yourself, and you will find in the long run only hatred, loneliness, despair, rage, ruin, and decay. But look for Christ and you will find Him, and with Him everything else thrown in.”

198. “Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art…. It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.”

199. “The most important task that every pastor has is to get all his church members involved in some kind of ministry. That should be one of his main priorities. 3”

200. “No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good.”

201. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” – Romans 8:28 (NIV)

202. “A friend loves you at all times.” Proverbs 17:17 [ERV]

203. Thank you for putting up with me and cheering me up when the world put me down. God’s light shines through your loving heart.

204. “In a few words I just want to thank you for being my little friend and bless you for the rest of your life.”

205. “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”

206. Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in, continue firm and constant. -Socrates

207. It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages. -Friedrich Nietzsche

208. When a good man prays, great things happen. I believe God listens to your prayers and works amazing miracles for me. Thank you for your prayers and support.

209. God’s timing is always perfect. He knows everything we need, so I must have needed a little kindness in my life. He powerfully used your act of kindness, so thank you for everything that you have done. My prayer is that the Lord will bless you for your kindness.

210. The gift of a cheerful spirit is a blessing from God. Thank you for taking the time to pour some of your cheerfulness into my life. Your words helped me to remember God’s love and faithfulness. God bless you for your compassion!

211. “Half of the time, the Holy Ghost tries to warn us about certain people that come into our life. The other half of the time he tries to tell us that the sick feeling we get in a situation is not the other person’s fault, rather it is our own hang-ups. A life filled with bias, hatred, judgment, insecurity, fear, delusion and self-righteousness can cloud the soul of anyone you meet. Our job is never to assume,instead it is to listen, communicate, ask questions then ask more, until we know the true depth of someone’s spirit.”

212. “I consider you a very angelic person and that is why I think God put you in my path and is blessing my life with a great friendship that we have maintained for many years.”

213. “When in doubt, choose the kids. There will be plenty of time later to choose work.”

214. “Our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” – 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 (NIV)

215. “One who forgives an affront fosters friendship, but one who dwells on disputes will alienate a friend.”

216. “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”

217. Jesus is the only true friend in this world who will stick close to you than a brother when even your so-called trusted friends forsake you out of nowhere. Samuel Zulu

218. Be authentic

219. There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship. -Thomas Aquinas

220. “These people are friendly with us; let them live in the land and trade in it, for the land is large enough for them; let us take their daughters in marriage, and let us give them our daughters.”

221. “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ to do good works.” —Ephesians 2:10

222. “In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that-and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison-you do not know God at all. ”

223. “The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.”

224. “If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning: just as, if there were no light in the universe and therefore no creatures with eyes, we should never know it was dark. Dark would be without meaning.”

225. “A true friend is one who in times of trial calmly and imperturbably suffers with his neighbour the ensuing afflictions, privations and disasters as if they were his own.”

226. “God never said the journey would be easy, but He did say the arrival would be worthwhile.” – Max Lucado

227. “A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.”

228. Be interested

229. The next best thing to be wise oneself is to live in a circle of those who are. C. S Lewis

230. “Love one another with mutual affection; outdo one another in showing honor.”

231. “To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”

232. “If you can’t fly, then run. If you can’t run, then walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl. But whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

233. “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.” All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. Those who knock it is opened. ”

234. “I remember Christian teachers telling me long ago that I must hate a bad man’s actions but not hate the bad man: or, as they would say, hate the sin but not the sinner. …I used to think this a silly, straw-splitting distinction: how could you hate what a man did and not hate the man? But years later it occurred to me that there was one man to whom I had been doing this all my life — namely myself. However much I might dislike my own cowardice or conceit or greed, I went on loving myself. There had never been the slightest difficulty about it. In fact the very reason why I hated the things was that I loved the man. Just because I loved myself, I was sorry to find that I was the sort of man who did those things.”

235. “Love may forgive all infirmities and love still in spite of them: but Love cannot cease to will their removal.”

236. “God Prepared A Home For Us”

237. Friends show their love in times of trouble, not in happiness. -Euripides

238. “Reality, in fact, is usually something you could not have guessed. That is one of the reasons I believe Christianity. It is a religion you could not have guessed. If it offered us just the kind of universe we had always expected, I should feel we were making it up. But, in fact, it is not the sort of thing anyone would have made up. It has just that queer twist about it that real things have. So let us leave behind all these boys’ philosophies–these over simple answers. The problem is not simple and the answer is not going to be simple either.”

239. Never take faithful friends in your life for granted as they are God-sent especially with so many fake friends these days. Samuel Zulu

240. “Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.” —Psalm 37:4

241. “For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, ‘Do not fear; I will help you.’” – Isaiah 41:13 (NIV)

242. St Augustine: Whenever I feel a person burning with Christian mercy and love for me has become my friend, when I entrust any of my plans and thoughts to him, I am entrusting them not to a man, but to Him in whom he abides, so as to be like Him, ‘for God is love, and the one who lives in love lives in God.

243. “Although there is validity, I believe, in leaving a church where the leadership consistently presents false doctrine, I also see people who are offended by one remark from the pulpit or one perceived hurt flit to the next church to look for fault there. It's like the cartoon I saw of a skeleton dressed in women's clothes and sitting on a park bench; the caption read, 'Waiting for the perfect man.' There is no perfect church either.”

244. “God knows why he put you in my path, because if I had not met you I would still be living as an agnostic. No one better than you to teach me how to live the word of our Savior.”

245. “Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the friends, even though they are strangers to you.”

246. “[Repentance] means unlearning all the self-conceit and self -will that we have been training ourselves into… It means killing part of yourself, under-going a kind of death.”

247. Your friendship with Jesus whose love is pure is the only friendship on this earth that will never fail or disappoint you, no matter what. Samuel Zulu

248. “As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on thing and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down you cannot see something that is above you.”

249. “Your potential is the sum of all the possibilities God has for your life.” – Charles Stanley

250. St John Chrysostom: It would be better for the sun to be extinguished than that we should be deprived of friends. Better to live in darkness than to be without friends.

251. Be resolving

252. “I thank God’s infinite mercy that always blesses our table and today I am sharing my food with a very dear friend who is always welcome in my home.”

253. God is more interested in your future and your relationships than you are. Billy Graham

254. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 ESV

255. “Atheism turns out to be too simple. If the whole universe has no meaning, we should never have found out that it has no meaning…”

256. Make sure your close friends in your life are well established in Christ. If not, they will be the reason for your downfall in life. Samuel Zulu

257. St Maximos the Confessor: A faithful friend is a strong defense; for when things are going well with you, he is a good counselor and a sympathetic collaborator, while when things are going badly, he is the truest of helpers and a most compassionate supporter.

258. Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another. Proverbs 27:17 ESV

259. True Christian friends will always be honest with you won’t backstab or say bad things behind your back. Samuel Zulu

260. “My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?”

261. “If God is for us, who can be against us?” – Romans 8:31 (NIV)

262. “We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade the presence of God. The world is crowded with Him. He walks everywhere incognito.”

263. “I pray to God to always keep our friendship strong, for it is one of the most valuable treasures I have in this life and one that I wish never to lose. You have no idea how important you are to me, my friend”.

264. There are friends, and then there are friends. You are a true friend who is closer than family. Thank you for always being there and demonstrating a faithfulness that comes from a deep love of Christ. May he bless you for your love and support!

265. You teach us how to be faithful; you encourage us to grow in kindness; you give us a living example of a virtuous life; you lead us to the Way, the Truth, and the Life. You are a blessing to our church and community.

266. “Friends are those rare people who ask how we are and then wait to hear the answer.”

267. “Now we cannot…discover our failure to keep God’s law except by trying our very hardest (and then failing). Unless we really try, whatever we say there will always be at the back of our minds the idea that if we try harder next time we shall succeed in being completely good. Thus, in one sense, the road back to God is a road of moral effort, of trying harder and harder. But in another sense it is not trying that is ever going to bring us home. All this trying leads up to the vital moment at which you turn to God and say, “You must do this. I can’t.”

268. “This is the day the lord hath made — rejoice in it and be glad!” —Psalm 118:24

269. The friends you have in your circle must help you grow and not lead you to do wrong things. Samuel Zulu

270. “Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil.”

271. “You would not have called to me unless I had been calling to you,” said the Lion.”

272. “It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present in us; it is the very sign of His presence.”

273. “He’ll be coming and going” he had said. “One day you’ll see him and another you won’t. He doesn’t like being tied down–and of course he has other countries to attend to. It’s quite all right. He’ll often drop in. Only you mustn’t press him. He’s wild, you know. Not like a tame lion.”

274. Part of the joy Christ has bought for us is our support for each other as Christians. Part of that support is praying for each other. Thank you for the prayers you offered on my behalf. I know that they helped me get through, and I wanted to tell you how grateful I am.

275. “My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me.” Henry Ford

276. “The more we let God take us over, the more truly ourselves we become – because He made us. He invented us. He invented all the different people that you and I were intended to be. . .It is when I turn to Christ, when I give up myself to His personality, that I first begin to have a real personality of my own.”

277. “A young man who wishes to remain a sound atheist cannot be too careful of his reading.”

278. St John Chrysostom: Eating and drinking don’t make friendships – such friendship even robbers and murderers have. But if we are friends, if we truly care for one another, let us help one another spiritually. . . Let us hinder those things that lead our friends away to hell.

279. “Surely what a man does when he is taken off his guard is the best evidence for what sort of man he is.”

280. “God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.” – Saint Augustine

281. “God will meet you where you are in order to take you where He wants you to go.” – Tony Evans

282. For if they fall, the one will lift his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up. Ecclesiastes 4:10

283. “Don't be a spectator in the kingdom of God , find something that you can do , at-least even going to church is one of them”

284. I am so grateful that the Lord has given me a friend like you. The bond that we share as friends could only come through him. Your faithfulness to imitate Christ’s love and protection is inspiring. Thank you for always being my friend, no matter what.

285. “I once read the sentence ‘I lay awake all night with a toothache, thinking about the toothache and about lying awake.’ That’s true to life. Part of every misery is, so to speak, the misery’s shadow or reflection: the fact that you don’t merely suffer but have to keep on thinking about the fact that you suffer. I not only live each endless day in grief, but live each day thinking about living each day in grief.”

286. “Prayer is a strong wall and fortress of the church; it is a goodly Christian weapon.” – Martin Luther

287. Scripture tells us that every good and perfect gift comes from above. The gift you gave me was so perfect that I know the Lord must have directed its purchase. Thank you for your generosity.

288. Be uplifting

289. My illness was a challenging time. However, the bright spot in such a dark experience was the concern you showed to me. You may feel that the things you did were small, but you lifted my spirits, and you strengthened me. May the Lord bless you richly!

290. “But one of the worst results of being a slave and being forced to do things is that when there is no one to force you any more you find you have almost lost the power of forcing yourself.”

291. Sometimes when we have hard choices to make in our lives, fear can cause us to freeze and not move forward. The strength and leadership you showed on my behalf were amazing. Thank you, and may the Lord bless you!

292. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” – Romans 15:13 (NIV)

293. “The pain I feel now is the happiness I had before. That’s the deal.”

294. “Christ's version of kindness:

295. St Maximos the confessor: A true friend is one who in times of trial calmly and emotionally suffers with his neighbour the ensuing afflictions, poverty and disasters as if they were his own.

296. “Most believers learn passively from clergy. However, no matter how good and uplifting this person's teaching, as long as the members are not actively ministering and speaking Christ themselves, growth lacks.”

297. “Peter did not feel very brave; indeed, he felt he was going to be sick. But that made no difference to what he had to do.”

298. “Progress means getting nearer to the place you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man.”

299. “The stamp of the Saint is that he can waive his own rights and obey the Lord Jesus.”

300. “You're going to come across some truly gifted people in your lifetime that seem to know all the answers. However, they lost their personal relationship with God, along the way. Love them anyways, and do everything you can to help them restore that relationship. They are fighting a war that you don't know anything about.”

301. “But, first, remember, remember, remember the signs. Say them to yourself when you wake in the morning and when you lie down at night, and when you wake in the middle of the night. And whatever strange things may happen to you, let nothing turn your mind from following the signs. And secondly, I give you a warning. Here on the mountain I have spoken to you clearly: I will not often do so down in Narnia. Here on the mountain, the air is clear and your mind is clear; as you drop down into Narnia, the air will thicken. Take great care that it does not confuse your mind. And the signs which you have learned here will not look at all as you expect them to look, when you meet them there. That is why it is so important to know them by heart and pay no attention to appearances. Remember the signs and believe the signs. Nothing else matters.”

302. Christian friendship is all about being willing to lay down your life for the other as Jesus demonstrated to His disciples. Samuel Zulu

303. A man's friendships are one of the best measures of his worth. -Charles Darwin

304. Words cannot express our sincerest gratitude for your support during this time of loss. Your gentle sympathy and kindness will always be remembered in our prayers.

305. “At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict, or not closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent with a husband, a friend, a child, a parent.”

306. “No other success can compensate for failure in the home.”

307. Let brotherly affection and love from above be what defines your friendship with others. Samuel Zulu

308. Thank you for keeping us in your thoughts, hearts, and prayers. May God bless you with peace and joy.

309. You make the sun shine brighter in my life because you know exactly how to cheer me up and remind me of God’s never-ending love for me. Thank you for being there for me.

310. Thoughtfulness is a virtue. Your thoughtful gift shows how much time and effort you put into choosing something just right for me. I will always treasure both the gift and how much you care.

311. “For it [the spirit of wisdom] is an unfailing treasure for mortals; those who get it obtain friendship with God, commended for the gifts that come from instruction.”

312. “Though you should name infinite treasures, none of them is comparable to a genuine friend. And first let us speak of the great delight of friendship itself. A friend rejoices at seeing his friend, and his heart expands with joy. He is tied to him with an union of soul that affords unspeakable pleasure. I speak of genuine friends, men of one soul, who would even die for each other, who love each other fervently.”

313. “Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of – throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself.”

314. “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic — on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg — or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon or you can fall at his feet and call him Lord and God, but let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

315. “‘For I know I have plans for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” – Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

316. “We commit to other believers in the local church simply because it's part of God's calling us into his family. It's what it means to be a Christian. Take the passage from 1 John 4:19-21. It starts with our salvation: "He first loved us." Then it continues into our love for other Christians. "Whoever loves God must also love his brother." Every person loved by God in this salvific sense loves other Christians. There are no exceptions. And that means we should stop viewing commitment to a local church as a process and start viewing it as an event. The event is our salvation, and commitment is something that inevitably follows- not something that merely happens as we mature.”

317. I wanted to send a note to thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to help me. Your help was needed and appreciated. I pray that the Lord will receive the time you gave as an act of service for Him. God bless you!

318. “Love is something more stern and splendid than mere kindness.”

319. “Pleasant speech multiplies friends, and a gracious tongue multiplies courtesies.”

320. True friendship can afford true knowledge. It does not depend on darkness and ignorance. -Henry David Thoreau

321. “We are not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us; we are wondering how painful the best will turn out to be.”

322. “We were promised sufferings. They were part of the program. We were even told, ‘Blessed are they that mourn,’ and I accept it. I’ve got nothing that I hadn’t bargained for. Of course it is different when the thing happens to oneself, not to others, and in reality, not imagination.”

323. Thank you so much for taking the time to help me celebrate my special occasion. Your presence blessed my heart and the celebration. Honestly, spending special times with friends like you are some of the best things in life. God bless you!

324. “[To have Faith in Christ] means, of course, trying to do all that He says. There would be no sense in saying you trusted a person if you would not take his advice. Thus if you have really handed yourself over to Him, it must follow that you are trying to obey Him. But trying in a new way, a less worried way. Not doing these things in order to be saved, but because He has begun to save you already. Not hoping to get to Heaven as a reward for your actions, but inevitably wanting to act in a certain way because a first faint gleam of Heaven is already inside you.”

325. “I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father.”

326. “Don’t despair when you fall, but get up eagerly and do a metanoia”

327. True friends will always add happiness and joy into your life and not subtract away from your joy and happiness your life. Samuel Zulu

328. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.” – James 1:2-3 (NIV)

329. “God can’t give us peace and happiness apart from Himself because there is no such thing.”

330. You will never know how much your help was needed. Truthfully, I don’t think I knew how much I needed it. Thank you so much for stepping up and being a lifesaver! May the Lord bless you for your willingness to serve others.

331. “There is good even in church people. You find it hard to believe, right? Jesus never shut the door on religious people. He just made sure that they understand He was that door, and not their deeds and tasks. Some of us, even I, need to be reminded of this. This being understood, the people of the church are like broken pieces of glass fixed into beautiful mosaic to reflect Jesus. The picture is beautiful, but the pieces do indeed still have sharp edges that can cut.”

332. It’s just a matter of fact that if you walk with the wise, you will be wise but a companion of fools will soon come to ruin. Samuel Zulu

333. “Aim at Heaven and you will get Earth ‘thrown in’: aim at Earth and you will get neither.”

334. As I recover from my stay in the hospital, I wanted to take a moment and thank those who made my time there more comfortable. Your phone calls, card, and flowers were such a blessing. Thank you, and God bless you!

335. “You are a very special person to my life, you have made sad moments turn into joy, I thank God for giving me the blessing of having you when I need it most.”

336. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. Hebrews 10:25

337. “But Ruth said. . . ‘Where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God.’”

338. The kindness that you’ve shown me was such a blessing, so much so, that I know it came straight from our Lord’s hands. Many people miss their opportunity to be used by him. Thank you for being willing to be his instrument of blessing in my life!

339. Have no business with friends whose aim is to smear evil into your life and draw you away from righteousness. Samuel Zulu

340. Remember, iron will always sharpen iron that is why you must associate yourself with godly fronds who will bring out the best in you. Samuel Zulu