Sunday 18 July 2010

Friends

Friends are placed into our lives for specific purposes. They help us along in our daily struggles and provide the companionship we need as social creatures. They extend acceptance to us and make us feel loved. Close friends are those who have shared with us a friendship that stood the test of time and have braved through the furnace and thereby, transforming what was unstable and vulnerable into a firm relationship that is hardy and solid. Close friends know us inside out - our good and bad sides. They love us for the good in us and accepts the bad too. They are well aware of our limitations and shortcomings but have chosen against judging us. Instead, they are patient with our failings, forgiving and gracious enough to still love us for who we are. 

In the same way, Jesus is such a close friend. The thing is, this friendship is not always mutual. He is always a close friend to us but are we such a close friend to Him? Not that He has shortcomings we need to be patient about, forgiving or gracious towards but are we there to walk with Him in His sufferings by the crosses we face daily? In short, in the face of our crosses, do we willingly carry them and walk on with the suffering Jesus or are we the kind of friend who is only there when there're personal benefits and who abandon Him when the going gets tough? Do we accept what He wants of us or do we do as we please? Do we consider His feelings first in the things we do or do we make our decisions solely on our own whims and fancies? 

Two people are deciding on a dinner place. One is craving for international buffet and the other is craving for local delights at a coffee shop. If both insist on satisfying their own cravings, they will end up having dinner on their own. Similarly, if we insist on living life our way based on our wants and desires, then we will end up living our lives alone; not because we have been abandoned by God but because we refuse to trust in God's ways and be obedient to His will. We ourselves deny God of the friendship He gave us the freedom to choose. And the further we walk away from this friendship with God, the least satisfied we are behind the mask we put up and the harder it is to build back the broken friendship when we one day decide to turn back to Him. Above all, we would really be hurting this Person who has the purest of love anyone could have for us. It is sadder and more painful than a husband or wife cheating on each other, than a son disowning his own mother, than a mother witnessing the death of her baby, than a child becoming an orphan. God wants us as His friends, like how a mother yearns to watch life unfold in the tiny child she has just borne, like how a child yearns for his parents' love. Such passion, hope and intensity in the longing, with arms outstretched. How are we going to respond to this call to friendship? By not making a decision to respond, we have already made a decision to ignore and play indifferent. How agonizing it is a feeling to be left hanging and waiting for an answer. But God knows not to wait for answers. He knows our answer already. He only waits for us to change our minds and start taking seriously this friendship. 

How do we build a friendship with Jesus?
Can we truly love Jesus if we do not have this friendship with Him? 
What happens if we want Jesus to mean the world to us but honestly, we know it in our hearts, embarrassed as it could make us feel, we just cannot feel this importance of this Jesus? 

18 July 2010
5.50pm

1 comment:

  1. I got this saying from an email: some friends are given to us for a reason(to teach us something), for a season(to be our angel for a certain time period) or for a lifetime(to walk with us through life's journey).

    How I see Jesus as my close friend is through life's lessons. I have learnt that human friends, even those we love, will let us down and cannot be there for us every moment of the day(like 4am, for example). Only God will not let us down. If we think He has, it is merely that He has not answered our prayers in the way we want. Also, we can speak to Him anytime of the day, even at 4 am.

    ReplyDelete