Good morning,
It’s
now possible to have hundreds of friends from all over the world at the
same time without costing any money or having to deal personally with
any of them when they act badly. Social media like Facebook encourages
us to make friends with people from our past or people with a certain
interest or a special focus by asking them to be our friends, or by
seeing their names on some wall and joining in the conversation. The
focus of these friendships is exchanging information, not building a
genuine relationship with other people. It’s also true that if you or
they don’t like what is being said or done all one needs to do is
“unfriend” them. Poof, the friendship is over! Liking friends in this
kind of setting is based on behavior, not biblical love or loyalty. The
writers of the proverbs pointed out that “A friend is always loyal,”
(Prov. 17:17) and “a real friend sticks closer than a brother.” (Prov.
18:24)
Those of us who have become God’s kids are held to a very
different standard. Our friendship with the people around us is not
based on their behavior, but on God’s love for the people who are living
in our world. Since our Heavenly Father has given us an eternal
relationship with him and since Jesus has promised us that he would
never leave us or forsake us and since the Holy Spirit has promised that
he would finish the work that he started in us, we have a whole
different pattern of friendship then the world does. When Paul was
writing to the Thessalonians he pointed out that his friendship with
them was based on the responsibility that God had given him to share the
Good News with them exactly like it was given to him. Because of his
love for God, Paul was determined to tell them God’s truth whether they
liked it or not. Paul wasn’t loving them to get something from them.
He wasn’t trying to become a famous leader or become wealthy because of
the friendship that was growing between them. Paul was being a genuine
friend in his willingness to do whatever God told him to say and do in
order to help them to see what the real love of God was all about. The
Lord also longs for us to live and love like Jesus, a real loyal,
forgiving, patient, kind person empowered by the Holy Spirit who is
always there to help us.
1 Thessalonians 2:4 For we
speak as messengers approved by God to be entrusted with the Good News.
Our purpose is to please God, not people. He alone examines the motives
of our hearts. 5 Never once did we try to win you with flattery, as you
well know. And God is our witness that we were not pretending to be
your friends just to get your money!
Roy Wisner
