A second vital factor contributing to endearing friendships is that of loyalty and dependability. If you reflect on those people you count as your closest friends, it is those who have been loyal to you through thick and thin. It is those who you can count upon when the chips are down. We’ve all heard and perhaps used the phrase fair-weather friend. We use it of those people who are pleased to be our friends when everything is fine and going smoothly. But, as soon as problems or troubles hit, they make themselves scarce. Fair-weather friends behave as they do because they look for what they can get out of a relationship – rather than what they can give and put into it. However, true friends are loyal and faithful to one another when the going is easy and when it gets tough: True friends support each other. True friends sacrifice for each other. True friends are dependable – they’re always there when needed. On the evening of his death, Jesus Christ described the need for loyalty, dependability and sacrifice as a component of our friendship with him. Speaking to his disciples Jesus said: John 15:13 13 Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. (RSV) He was true to that statement. Christ showed us the ultimate gesture of friendship in laying down his life for us as a sacrifice for our sins. He practised what he preached. He went all the way for us. Christ’s sacrifice for us, as his gesture of true friendship toward us, should evoke loyalty and dependability from us. John 15:14 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. (RSV) Christ was explaining that, just as he was prepared to go all the way for us, we need to go all the way for him in demonstrating our loyalty and reliability to him. Of course, loyalty and dependability are really only made fully manifest when we are tested and tempted to go against these principles. For example, if you are told by your employer or boss that not working on the Sabbath will bring severe action against you, possibly even the loss of your job – and you’ve got a family to support and/or bills to pay – then the commandment to remember the Sabbath to keep it holy can become a severe test of loyalty to God and Christ.
Posted on: Wed, 24 Jul 2013 12:21:29 +0000
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