Friend or Friendly?

A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need. Proverbs17:17NLT

I can look back to a time when I didn’t want, or need any friends around me. I had brothers in Christ that I counted as friendly and would have responded or helped if I had asked them. But I didn’t need them. Then my wife died and everything changed.

It’s easy to gather friends and followers if you are on any of the social media sites. Some in the younger generation put great store on their friend count because it is important to have someone you can call a friend, and the more the merrier it seems. Sadly these bonds are shallow and do not reflect real or true friendships. But how do you test if someone is a true friend because there will come a time when you need to know as I did.

The tests are obvious, but are only confirmed and found in times of stress, trouble, or need. In my case being left alone, but I had an advantage because around me was a body of believers, some of whom had been where I stood now. In fact, the bigger truth is that the family of God is greater than your local church, and that is what I found. I confess to being surprised at the open willingness to help and support in any way possible, and I should not have been surprised at all. All those sermons about brotherly love, and the love of Jesus were good to hear and welcome at head level, but now the heart was involved.

Real friends are always loyal, and come what may, will be there when you need them. The truth is they were always there in the shadows just like the Saviour, I just didn’t know it then, but I know it now and I am thankful for my friends. To my real friends, true friends, loyal friends who stepped up in my time of need, I say simply Thank You!

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 1John4:7NIV

WWJD

Remember the acronym WWJD from your early church and Sunday School days? It came to my mind recently, and my first reaction was a smile as I recalled the simplicity of the basic test of our actions and motives. It became a byword for the young aspiring Christian set, and years later I had cause to apply the test to some other opinions as expressed by some Christians.

When we are tempted to shout loud, shoot from the hip, or speak before putting our brain into gear, it would be advisable to apply the WWJD test. It’s not difficult to do, but the trouble is the answer can be patently obvious. When that’s the case, we already know that we won’t necessarily like the outcome.

The Bible is a book with lots of reading, and we can overthink things and get bogged down in a few of our favourite verses. You know, the chosen ones that tend to agree with our own opinion on any given subject. However, it helps to remember who the Bible is all about. From the prophecies in the Old Testament, to the outworking of the Holy Spirit in the early church, every page is a testimony to the arrival of the son of God on our earthly scene. Jesus is the pure expression of God’s love, and at the core of everything we believe, so shouldn’t we take notice of anything and everything that Jesus would say and do? Maybe the old Sunday School test of our younger days is good even now. I wonder, WWJD when it comes down to the shallow actions and opinionated decisions we make every now and again? We will be in a good place spiritually when others notice in our lives that WWID=WWJD, so let’s strive for that!

Shallow

We have just seen an election campaign in the USA like no other I have ever witnessed, and I have seen a few. In a few days after winning the ticket to become the next President, many things said before have changed. Not just a little, but in a big way. In essence, Donald Trump won by using deceit at the highest level, not to mention downright lies to achieve his goal. He is already changing his mind on things like NATO, the wall along the Mexican border, affordable healthcare (Obamacare), his expressed views on the Clintons,the Obamas, and climate change to name just a few.

Before we rush to judgement on all those who voted for his success, and the lies he peddled, let’s take a look closer to home. We go by the name Christian? I wonder how we stack up against the things we say and do, and the Biblical standard we profess? In many ways we are no different from Donald Trump. We talk big, but deliver small. We claim that the answers to life’s ills are contained in the Bible, but we don’t act like it. Some even go to church on a Sunday, looking and sounding the part, but you wouldn’t know it during the rest of the week.

Before we shout about anyone else being a charlatan or a hypocrite, I suggest we take a long hard look at ourselves, and I include myself in that. Evidently there is much in common between a lying politician and a shallow christian. The biggest difference though is that any political charlatan can be replaced in a few years, and the world carries on. However a hypocrite claiming to be a Christian who does not live a good and Godly example in the way that he or she knows they should, will stand before a just and holy God and the outcome is eternal. Equally, we know that the Bible is not silent on this serious and important matter.  

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth. Revelation 3:15,16

The axe is now ready to cut down the trees. Every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. Matthew 3:10