The Result of God’s Love

Friendship is when two or more people know and trust one another. Many, many people around the globe have had great friendships. Sometimes friendships turn out to be shallow or based on selfishness. Another type of friendship was a soldier’s friendship. This was often one of the best kinds of friendship because through the soldier’s struggles, they were brought together with a great bond. One of the many people who had great friendships, traitorous friendships, and soldiers’ friendships was Henry V of England.

“A righteous man is cautious in friendship, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.” (Psalm 109:5, NIV).

According to God, Henry showed righteousness in his friendship because he was cautious in his relationships. Henry V had good friends and bad friends. Some of his good friends included Exeter, Bedford, Warwick, Talbot, and many more. These were the friends that taught him what friendship was. These were the friends that made Henry who he was, they influenced him for the better, and he knew that they were a good influence on him. Some Friends though such as Scroop, were not really friends, and while they might have been influencing him, that influence was torn away in one moment!

What shall I say to thee, Lord Scroop? Thou cruel,
Ingrateful, savage and inhuman creature!
Thou that didst bear the key of all my counsels,
That knew'st the very bottom of my soul,
That almost mightst have coin'd me into gold,
Wouldst thou have practised on me for thy use

( Shakespeare, 2003, 1).

Poor Henry, he has just figured out that one of his dearest friends, so dear to him that he knew all of Henry’s secrets, and had helped council the king in every way, is a traitor. He has betrayed him, not just too any country, but to the opposing enemy, France.

Treason is a huge mistake, one of the biggest mistakes in the world. It is not only treason against the country, but against the king, and against God. In King Henry’s time, the penalty was death, immediately, by hanging or torture.

To have a good friendship that is true, you need to have trust. The traitor doesn’t trust, but the King is, that is why it was a “Traitorous Friendship”. A traitor can be so dubious that he is not noticed by the betrayed until someone else tells on him or he is discovered.

The Traitor, Lord Scroop, had a lack of love and respect. He didn’t love Henry enough to want to keep his friendship, he didn’t care to remain loyal. He doesn’t have enough respect for his God, his country, his family, his king, or his friend.

Henry is talking right before the battle. It is the battle that everyone expected they would lose because they were weak, tired, hungry, wounded, and ready to go home.

“We would not die in that man's company that fears his fellowship to die with us”. (Shakespeare, 2003, 2).

Henry and his men don’t want to hang out with men who are not loyal to them. Henry‘s men are being loyal to the him, the king, and to every man fighting with them. They want nothing to do with men like Pistol, who came just to be a cutpurse and gain some glory, or like Bardolph, who came just to get treasures and to ransack the town, destroying their churches; they want men who are going to be loyal, stick to them, do some fighting, show some courage, stand up for their king, their country, their neighbors, friends, and family; men who are real men.

Loyalty is being firm in allegiance to authority, to a person, and/or to a cause. In life, people don’t want to be friends with those, who, at the first sign of wealth, riches, and/or something that will benefit them greatly, leave you, only to crawl back to you when they are beaten and dying; people want to be friends with those who will always stick by them. Jesus Christ is an example of being a loyal friend. He is always there for you. “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”(Joshua 1:5, NIV). He will never leave you, nor forsake you. That is a true example of loyalty and the truest and most perfect there is.

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; (Shakespeare, 2003, 3).

Not only is Henry calling every man his friend, but he who sheds hid blood with Henry that day will be his brother. This means that from that point on men like Exeter, Fluellen, Bedford, Gloucester, will be able to say ‘I fought with my King and my brother.’ This shows Henry’s love for his men and his brave and courageous outlook and personality. It shows that his friends have shown him how to be or how not to be a friend, because your friends make you who you are.

In life, there are many ways this can be translated; one of them is in war. In war those who are exposed to the rough parts of war, with friends, then those are the ones that will come out with the strongest relationships. In everyday life, those who are going through hard times, tragic losses, struggles, spiritually, mentally, or physically, are most likely doing so with their friends. Those friends will stick out and will have not only a base of friendship, but they will also have a strong unbreakable love.

This is often the same kind of love that we have with God. Often times, people do not turn to God until they are hurting, and hurting big time. They think they don’t need God, until they are humbled and find out that they do. They call on God, and when He answers they bond with him, because He helps us through. Once you’re really a Christian, there is no separation between you and God. It is like this with a soldier and his fellow country-men. Henry was tied to each one though hard times and struggles, each one of the 29 men was a loss. He cared about each one with his whole being.

A true friend is the most valuable of all gifts that God has given us. In life, we are sent as Christians to tell others of Christ. To tell others of Christ, there has to be love and friendship. God is Love. If there was no love, the God that we know would be very different. Because of God’s love, we are able to show friendship towards one another.

In my life, my goal is to love others as He does and most importantly to glorify Him. How am I to glorify God if I do not have love? The Bible says the word or a form of the word “love” 826 times. That must mean he really wants us to love each other, the result of that love being friendship.

Friendship is a commitment between two or more people to know and trust one another. Most people in history have, including me, experienced friendship. Henry V was one of the many people who had friendship. He had good friendships, bad friendships, and traitorous friendships. All of his friendships taught him something about friendship, whether it was how to be a friend, or how not to be a friend.

His good friends taught him to be loyal, to trust, to love one another, to fight hard, no matter the struggle: physical, mental, and spiritual struggles. They taught him how to never back down, even at the face of death, even when all of his friends were stealing (and were hung as a result), even when he was pursuing a lovely lady and had no way of elegantly telling her that he loved her.

His bad friendships, his “traitorous friendships”, taught him how not to be a friend. They taught him not to deceive, or to fall to being desperate. Even though these relationships hurt him emotionally, they built him up as a person because he endured. Without those “friendships,” he would not have learned to be the man he was.

True, sacrificial, and unconditional friendship, is based in love. To have this kind of “agape” love, you must have God. If you have God, God has given you His Love, and because you have His Love, you can show friendship to others. The result of His love is friendship.

Citations:

1. Shakespeare, William. Henry V. Act II. Scene II. Lines 95-100.

2. Shakespeare, William. Henry V. Act IV. Scene III. Lines 41-42.

3. Shakespeare, William. Henry V. Act IV. Scene III. Lines 63-65.