." Congenial companionship is wonderfully
inspiring. Aloneness is pain. You cannot kindle a fire with one coal.
A log will not burn alone. But put two coals or two logs side by side,
and the fire kindles and blazes and burns hotly. Jesus yoked his
apostles in twos that mutual friendship might inspire them both.

There was another reason for mating the Twelve. Each of them was only
a fragment of a man--not one of them was full-rounded, a complete man,
strong at every point. Each had a strength of his own, with a
corresponding weakness. Then Jesus yoked them together so that each
two made one good man. The hasty, impetuous, self-confident Peter
needed the counterbalancing of the cautious, conservative Andrew.
Thomas the doubter was matched by Matthew the strong believer. It was
not an accidental grouping by which the Twelve fell into six parts.
Jesus knew what was in man; and he yoked these men together in a way
which brought out the best that was in each of them, and by thus
blending their lives, turned their very faults and weaknesses into
beauty and strength. He did not try to make them all alike. He made
no effort to have Peter grow quiet and gentle like John, or Thomas
become an enthusiastic, unquestioning believer like Matthew, He sought
for each man's personality, and developed that. He knew that to try to
recast Peter's tremendous energy into staidness and caution would only
rob him of what was best in his nature. He found room in his apostle
family for as many different types of temperament as there were men,
setting the frailties of one over against the excessive virtues of the
other.

It is interesting to note the method of Jesus in training his apostles.
The aim of true friendship anywhere is not to make life easy for one's
friend, but to make something of the friend. That is God's method. He
does not hurry to take away every burden under which he sees us
bending. He does not instantly answer our prayer for relief, when we
begin to cry to him about the difficulty we have, or the trial we are
facing, or the sacrifice we are making. He does not spare us hardship,
loss, or pain. He wants not to make things easy for us, but to make
something of us. We grow under burdens. It is poor, mistaken
fathering or mothering that thinks only of saving a child from hard
tasks or severe discipline. It is weak friendship that seeks only
pleasure and indulgence for a loved one. "The chief want in life is