Proverbs 27:10. Better is a neighbor who is near than a brother who is far away.
Our last few proverbs have been all about friendship. Good friends tell you the truth in love, even when it hurts. Good friends listen and encourage. They counsel us, giving us good advice that points us to Christ.
In Proverbs, the words friend and neighbor are usually connected. Our neighbors should be our friends. Back then everyone knew their neighbors very well, as friend even. So when Solomon says better is a neighbor who is near, he means a friend. A close by friend is better than a far away brother (or sister).
What’s the lesson here? In times of trouble you shouldn’t go looking for help from a family member who is living far away, but rather, to your friend who lives close by. The proverbs author might only be thinking about distance, how far away the brother is compared to the neighbor, but likely they are also thinking about how close you are relationally to your close friend compared to your sibling that you rarely ever see.
This is not in any way a call to shun family members. “A brother is born for adversity” Proverbs has already told us. But like the previous saying from this chapter, it is a call to nourish close friendships. Spiritual friendships with believers who know us well enough to rebuke (27:5), wound (27:6), and give earnest counsel (27:9).
Are you cultivating friendships that can offer immediate, godly, personal guidance?
In Christ we have a brother who is near. Jesus came from Heaven to Earth, taking on flesh to become our brother.
Hebrews 2:11. he is not ashamed to call them brothers
But he is not a far away brother at all. Even though he now sits enthroned in Heaven, we who are in Christ sit beside him at his right hand (Eph. 2:6). By the Holy Spirit of Christ, Jesus our brother is our closest neighbor and friend. He is both the brother born for our adversity (Pr. 17:17) and the friend that sticks closer than any brother (Pr. 18:24). How close? In us. Not just near us, with us, around us, but IN us. He’s not just a neighbor, he’s our spiritual roommate. We are one spirit with Christ, sharing his thoughts, his affections, his desires, even his deeds. There is no one nearer to you than Jesus.
The church is where we experience the nearness of Jesus within the body of Christ. Gathered Christians are natural enemies that have become neighbors, and neighbors that have become friends. How is that possible? Because first we were reborn as brothers and sisters in Christ. Didn’t Jesus himself teach us that to love our enemies is to be Sons of the Most High?
Luke 6:35. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High.
It is truly a miracle that occurs each Sunday when Jew and Gentile, black, brown, and white, male and female, rich and poor, slave and free, liberal and conservative, old and young gather together in the love and grace of God in Christ. Enemies now neighbors. Neighbors becoming friends. Friends that are brothers.
You: Do you see Jesus as your closest friend? What makes this difficult at times?
You in Christ: How does our union with Christ allow us to be close spiritual friends with anyone and everyone? Even our natural enemies?
Christ in you: How does the nearness of Christ empower us to live “near” one another?
Pray: Father, as your child allow me to love as you love, and care like you care. Help me to be a near friend that is always ready to help, as I rely on the nearness of Christ in me. Amen.
To Live is Christ 