Former President Thomas Jefferson said, "I never considered a difference of opinion in politics, in religion, in philosophy, as a cause for withdrawing from a friend." Jefferson was a controversial figure; I wonder if this statement was as true for his companions. Today these divisive subjects, along with money, racism, sexism, sexuality, etc. are causing folks to 'cancel' and separate—not just from their friends, but from family, co-workers, and their Christian brothers and sisters. The time when we could disagree agreeably, is no longer. Proverbs 17:17 says, "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity." Do you have quality friends? They require years to develop. Australian poet John Leonard said, “It takes a long time to grow an old friend.”
In this season it can be hard to know who your real friends are. A FRIEND is defined as a person whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, typically exclusive of sexual or family relations. The term is also used more loosely as a polite form of address or in ironic reference to an acquaintance or a stranger one comes across. Denominations like the Quakers and Methodists use the word friend as an identifier, or as a greeting. It can be off-putting to be given the salutation "friend" by an acquaintance who acts as if they know you deeply. We even call complete strangers "friends" on social media—taking the paradox even higher. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus, referenced Mosaic Law:
43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your friends, hate your enemies.’ 44But now I tell you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may become the children of your Father in heaven. For He makes His sun to shine on bad and good people alike, and gives rain to those who do good and to those who do evil. 46Why should God reward you if you love only the people who love you? Even the tax collectors do that! 47And if you speak only to your friends, have you done anything out of the ordinary? Even the pagans do that! 48 You must be perfect—just as your Father in heaven is perfect." Matthew 5:43-48
That's a tall order. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said "Loving your enemies...Far from being the pious injunction of a utopian dreamer, this demand is an absolute necessity for the survival of our civilization. Yes, it is love that will save our world and civilization; love even for our enemies...Love is the only thing that can turn an enemy into a friend."
Jesus taught His disciples in John 15:12-15, "12My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14You are My friends if you do what I command. 15I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from My Father I have made known to you.." Jesus demonstrated this great love when He went to the cross to die for sinners who were at enmity with Him, so that we could enjoy eternal life. (Romans 5:8) At this tumultuous time in history, we can also reflect on the words of James when he asked:
"1What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. 4You adulterous people, a don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God." We can ask ourselves if we're behaving as God's friends who do what He commands by loving others (even our enemies) enough to die for them...or if we have chosen to be an enemy of God.
"A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out." —Walter Winchell, American Journalist | 
