Before anything else: God loves you always, on the days you get it right and on the days you get it wrong.
Do you know how you can work out whether somebody is a real friend? There is a rather good way, and it has nothing to do with what they say about you.
The way is to watch what they do when something happens to somebody else.
Think of a scene you have already seen at school. Somebody trips and falls in the middle of the playground. What happens next? Some children run over to help and ask whether it hurt. Others laugh.
And there is the opposite scene too. A classmate gets the best mark in the class. Some are happy right along with them and go over for a hug. Others pull a face and say it was luck.
Today's Bible verse is about exactly that. It warns that there are people who get cheerful when something bad happens. That is the sign.
And here is a very important part: this is not for you to go around labelling who is good and who is bad. Nobody needs to make a list.
It is for two things only. The first is choosing well who you spend your time with. The second, which is the better one, is being the friend who is happy with you yourself.
And do you know what Jesus did? He knew everything that was inside every person's heart. He even knew who was going to do something very wrong to him. And even so, in the moment it happened, he called that man friend.
Jesus never gives up on anybody. Not even on someone who gets it badly wrong.