Monday, May 25, 2009
Finding Friendship
Milt Stanley links to this post on genuine friendship and Christ.
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Unfortunately today, we don’t strive for that we just look to connect with people and then call those connections friendships. Sure we are connected, but we connect at the Twitter and facebook level – one or two lines of pithy comments. We don’t really connect where we know people. Making this condition worse is the fact that even with those surface “friendships” as the norm, we are still more likely to know more about our online “friends” via short comments then we are our next door neighbors. We chat online, we surf the web, we goggle for info, but we never walk next door. We don’t want to KNOW people we want to KNOW ABOUT people. Sad, but true.Somethings require no comment - simply AMEN!
I believe that eventually we all get tired of this pattern and we begin to look for some real friends. We try to go deeper, but usually fail as this is new territory for many. Somewhere along the line though most people take a look at Jesus. There they see a man on a cross, giving all of Himself to them, and then and there they see what a true friend is and they are shocked.
He is closer to us then a brother. He is intimately involved and knows our struggles, our needs, our goals, our successes, our failures, our motives, our hearts, and our pains. That scares a lot of people.
So we run away. Which leaves many in a situation where they claim Jesus as friend, but only many that to point where they have a Facebook / Twitter friendship with Jesus not a real in depth and intimate relationship. For those that really know Jesus, they know that kind of relationship with Jesus simply is not possible.
To be a friend of Jesus you have to give ALL of yourself. Not a line or two, a side comment, a brief note, a pithy statement, a 30 second trailer, etc. You have to give all, invest all, and sacrifice all. Those that do it know the rewards are great, but unfortunately since fewer and fewer people see real friendship modeled in their daily lives they have know idea regarding it’s benefits, so they just move on. They continue on with have associates, affiliations, acquaintances, and passing relationships. Sure Jesus is their friend, He is their buddy, He is a phase or a season of their youth / life, and soon their relationship with Him is just like the relationship they have with hundreds / thousands of other “Friends” – surface and minimal. They check in on Jesus, read / hear a few things about Him occasionally, but they never really get to know Him or what He / His love is about.
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