Friend of God
I've been missing Reading a lot. One of the things I miss is my church there. So last Sunday I visited Riverside Church, the one that Reading Family Church reminded me of. During the service, we sang a song with the words "I am a friend of God, he calls me friend."There was a time, not long ago, when I would've thought that was a dumb, shallow song that probably doesn't belong in a church service. But this week I couldn't stop thinking about it. It's actually a very profound statement.
Think about your friends. How would you feel if your friends ignored you because they're too busy with other things? How would you feel if they only talked to you when they wanted something from you? How would you feel if they believed false ideas about who you are? How would you feel if they hurt you over and over again? How would you feel if they said they believed in you but acted as if you don't exist? And how would you feel if they sentenced you to death for crimes they committed?
Would you still call them "friend"?
I think God teaches us a lot about friendship, and friendship teaches us a lot about God.
7 Comments:
I've had several friends in the past that were like that. Yet they were still my friends and I loved them.
You're still alive, so they couldn't have been that bad.
this is a very interesting journal entry from you, Matt... not the typical Matt entry.
Didn't say they did all those things. Just some of em. I was ignored, they wanted something from me, they hurt me (emotionaly)...
Ooh forgot to say that even though they were like that, I forgave them and loved them.
It's amazing how simplicity can mean so much.
-Joel
"Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called friend of God." -- James 2:23. I think any song that references scripture meets my standard for acceptable in church. Plus it gets us to think, and maybe even causes us to praise God for a characteristic that we hadn't focused a lot on before.
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