A story is told in Talmud about 3 friends.
One day a king sent a messenger to a man to get ready to appear before the king. The man was in fear and unease about the order to appear; so he decided to request his friend to accompany him.
This man had three friends: the first friend was closest of three and the man was very fond of him. The second friend was close but not as close as the first friend. The third friend was just not a close friend and he didn’t pay much attention most of the time.
The man asked the first friend since he is closest but he refused the request without any explanation. Thus, the man asked second friend and his friend said that he will only accompany him to the front of the palace. A bit depressed, the man asked the third friend. However, the third friend happily agreed and told him that he will speak well to the king when he can.
The king in this story represents GOD and appearing before the king symbolizes DEATH. In other words, this story is an allegorical lesson of what will accompany a man when his life ends on this earth.
The man’s first friend is MONEY. We are closest to money and fond of it. We like it, we want it, and we can never have enough of it, but we can’t take it with us.
The second friend is FAMILY. When a person dies, his family will accompany him to the entrance but no farther.
The third friend is GOOD NEED. We may have not been close and didn’t think of much when we were alive but this good deed will speak kindly of us to God. Galatians 6:9 says, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
This story is just a little hint that we might want to be close to the “friend” who will accompany us all the way. ^_^