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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: Friendship (04/04/05)
Friendship

Friendship; or the need for sustained companionship is a matter of the human heart that defies explanation. Men yearn for friendships, treasure them and at the same time, may betray them for the most trivial matter.

Is it due to a lack of understanding? Can friendship be taught? No sane person would agree. Friendship is more a like seed that is planted and needs constant, nurturing and pruning for it to blossom to a great oak, when it can stand on its own and weather all kinds of storms.

Therefore, let not this discussion be an attempt to quantify this wild inherent element of our souls. Rather, as an opportunity to meditate upon it and retrace its roots to God’s Word, so that we may rediscover the divine nature of ‘friendship’ the way it was intended by our Creator.

Searching through the Archives of Man, we find the ‘Friendship’ plaque. It is a large shield with beautiful carvings; elegant and elaborate. But it looks as if it has seen better days. We couldn’t make out the carved words for it is extremely dirty. So we take our Handkerchief of Understanding and begin to wipe away the grime of Illusions, Superficiality, and Hollowness of Hollywood.

It was hard work. Some of the filth had really stuck onto the shield. Finally, it was done. We behold the Shield of Friendship in its majestic form, and there, carved in cursive, was the sentence:

“Those who are not our friends are our enemies.”

What?! Could it be any simpler; or draconian?
Does this declaration rightfully sum up ‘Friendship’? We cannot possible understand friendship from such an unfriendly statement! It makes people squirm in embarrassment.

Let’s look at the Bible.

“Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” James 4:4, KJV

Absolutism is a convenient tool for Simplification. After that, it calls for Exposition by which we shall then see the big picture. Let us once again gaze at the shining, glaring statement on the shield and muse…

Such an absolute viewpoint on friendship brings forth 2 important implications:

1) We are called to make friends indiscriminately.
No one likes to live amongst enemies, much less so a Christian, who have the assurance of inner peace and have dispelled all superstitious suspicions from the sanctum of his heart. The whole world is God’s created domain for him and all peoples are God’s given company to him. Strife and rivalry are things of the past sinful life, where he was once blind and needed to grope about violently in order to achieve an illusionary security. Now, his treasure is securely locked in heaven and he looks up heavenward everyday, anticipating his heavenly abode with His Saviour and holds loose to all things temporal on earth. There is just no reason for the child of God to hold anyone, anything, any groups of people in contempt, enmity and anger.

“Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.” 1 John 4:11, KJV

2) We are to be careful in choosing our friends.
Though apparently contradicts the above statement, it is not so in essence. The born-again Christian’s peace of mind came at the price of the blood of His Saviour. He is peaceful because he was cleansed and reconciled to His Maker. Thus, his responsive adoration and yearning for holiness automatically sets him at odds with the world. That which was once jolly and pleasing to his heart is now most despicable and disgusting.
Sin is the eternal enemy of God, and shall be so for His sons.

Jesus is serious about friendships. He demonstrated to us the very core of friendship in theory and in practice.

“The Son of man …a friend of publicans and sinners.” Matthew 11:19

O we ignorant sheep! Even in our foolishness we know that to eat grass is good for us, yet must we wait for the Shepherd to show us how to do so?

We needed peace to find rest, yet we choose antagonise and oppress.
We needed mercy to be found; yet we revel and justify our mess.
We needed a vision to see God, yet we so often spurn His calling.
We needed love to be meaningful; yet we forget that and continue falling.
We needed God to live; yet we will not bow down in worship.
The Lord God Almighty needs no friends. Yet He teaches us friendship.
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Member Comments
Member
Date
Leticia Caroccio
04/12/05
Good article and a very strong ending. Thank you for sharing it.
Suzanne R
04/17/05
What a clever concept, with the friendship plaque, and the layers of grime and the handkerchief etc. And then to get the balance between absolutism / simplification and exposition. Thanks for posting.