“You adulterers! Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God. I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God.” (James 4:4 NLT)
While Cristiano Ronaldo, has the most Facebook friends (177+ million), there are many across our world who rise or fall on their Facebook and other social media popularity, but why? Can it be our understanding of friendship is so shallow? Or is it our lack of self-esteem that drives us to depend so strongly on such superficial affirmation?
Where do you look for friendship? Personally, my best friend is Jesus, but He has led me to wonderful friends from across the world, some of whom I won’t meet until we get to heaven. Then how do I know they’re my friends? Because our kinship with Jesus automatically makes us friends.
There is something I heard many years ago that says: “If you want someone to love you, love what they love.” That’s never truer than when someone loves Jesus. I’ve never met another person who loves Jesus that I haven’t loved. I may not have liked being around them all that much, but I loved them. Why would I say that? Because there are a lot of people we love, family members, relatives, and others in our spheres of influence we know well, but with whom we’d rather not have to spend a lot of time.
Personalities clash, points of view on critical issues differ, lifestyle choices and many other factors come to bear on why we choose those with whom we’ll be close and those whom we’ll keep at arm’s length. But when it comes to our friendship with God the rules change a bit. The ONLY basis upon which anyone can ever have a friendship with God is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. How do I know that?
Because Jesus said in John 14:6-7: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me. If you had really known Me, you would know who My Father is.” Our friendship with Jesus opens the way to know His Father and having kinship with the Father gives each of us as God’s redeemed children kinship with one another. Acts 2:42 makes this clear: “All the believers (in Jesus) devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper, and to prayer.)”
Friendship and fellowship in the Body of Christ, the Church, should be as normal as wanting apple butter with bread. So, for someone who loves Jesus to shun, disrespect or disregard another believer because they aren’t a part of the same “brand” of Christianity is to slap our Savior in the face. His priceless blood was shed for EVERY born again, repentant sinner. The ground is level at the foot of the Cross where we’ll all equal in His sight.
Corrie Ten Boom had it right when she said: “When a Christian shuns fellowship with other Christians, the devil smiles.” When the world is falling apart, nothing should cement us together more strongly with our Christ-following brothers and sisters than our mutual love for our Savior. There’s a sense in which to deny love for a brother and sister in Christ is to deny our love for Jesus Himself.
Please, brothers and sisters in Christ, let’s grow up and lead the way for our lost loved ones and friends to come to Jesus as they witness our strong love for those in the Body of Christ who may believe differently than we do on some minor issues. One day, when we stand before the Lord we’re going to see as we’ve been seen and we’ll finally understand the miniscule things we viewed differently weren’t really all that important after all.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 