Friendship

In order to change a society you must be willing to strike at the foundational principles on which it is built. This process doesn’t happen all at once, but rather with a slow and steady hammering that will eventually weaken the structure so it can be re-invented. Honesty, truthfulness, marriage and hard work are ideas that have formed the bedrock of our social structure for many years, yet slowly these terms are being redefined.

The idea of being a “friend” is one of those stabilizing anchors in the lives of people which, especially in recent years has gone through a trivializing process that has left it empty of the power and strength it once had. Facebook friends, BFF, Twitter followers and fickle selfishness have eroded the understanding of it truly means to “be a friend.” Friendship is the closest connection two people can experience outside the intimacy of the marriage relationship. True friendship (just as in a true marriage) brings similar joys and responsibilities, as well as wholeness and belonging, to people of all ages. Friendship should foster an atmosphere of character development and improvement, the giving and sharing of life and companionship that is a necessary part of a healthy mental outlook. Yet, as with many other foundation stones, our understanding of friendship – through a steady stream of self-serving activities and goals – has been belittled, misrepresented and made anemic, a mere shadow of its former self.

As with every other broken function in our lives, Jesus seeks to redeem the concept of friendship, too. He begins by calling us to “follow Him” since it is obvious that we are wandering aimlessly through life, and then honors our commitment of faith by calling us “friend!” The disciples, by that same process, learned to come to love Jesus and realized the depth of real relationship He was offering them – all but one that is. Jesus did not just “teach” His followers from a vantage point of superiority, as most in His day did; instead He “lived” life with them day by day so that what He said was clarified and displayed in everything He did. He worked with them, ate with them, laughed, and cried, with them. He was always present, through the ‘good times’ as well as the ‘bad’ ones. He showed them what true friendship was like by providing the perfect example.

Sharing life, work, emotions, trials, and challenges is what builds friends, and that is what Jesus wants to be, your friend!

How exciting to be His people,
Pastor David Vanderpool