Guileless

I think one of the disciples I would like to have had for a friend was Nathanael. I wonder if he was named after that Old Testament prophet who told David that the scoundrel he should be angry with was himself. "You are that man!" Tough job that prophet thing. I don't think any of them wrote a book on how to win friends and influence people. But what I like about the Apostle Nathanael was the testimony of Jesus concerning him: "A man in whom is no guile." Wow! Here was a man without a trace of "pretense" in his behavior. What you saw, was what you had. He told you exactly what he was thinking--no cunning, no half-truths, no attempt to manipulate, no guile. When I think of him, I always think of that proverb about friendship: "Iron sharpens iron." We all need friends like that, don't we? And we always need to be such a friend.