Image by Cremo via Flickr

In facebook, all you have to do to earn a friend is click your mouse.  Supposing the “clickee” responds in kind.  But in this world, friendship is based on mutual respect and a cautious striving for trust.  I mention these two modes of friendship because there is another type of friendship that matters far more than the superficial type.

Am I a friend to the sinner?  Am I a friend to the godless?  Am I a friend to those who hate what is pure and good?  The answer has to end up as a “no”.  It’s not that I don’t want to befriend the sinner and godless.  It’s that they harbor a hatred for the God I serve.  They remain in rebellion and thus hate everything in me that belongs to God.  And the closer I get to understanding and worshiping the Lord, the further away from friendship they will move.

Jesus said, “You are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you”.  This scripture in John 15: 14 speaks volumes for all who call upon the name  of the Lord.  Friend speaks of something solid, when it comes to the Lord.  And how can I be friends with someone who hates everything I am coming to love?  We’re not talking marriage here.  In a Marriage, the woman will not like somethings the husband does.  And vice versa.  But in a friendship we are looking for similar desires.  And the more similar they are, the greater the friendship.

Love overlooks the differences.  But the sinner is mistaken to think friendship is love or that love is friendship.  I will love sinners and godless people enough to point out the center of all hope.  They will hate me for it.  But by pointing out Jesus, I am showing them love.

By His Grace.