Published: October 30, 2009 05:34 pm         

THE JOY LADY: Are you a friend of God?

I wonder what the people at the table next to us must have thought. I know they had to have heard us, even without even trying to eavesdrop. Especially when we started laughing at each other.

My husband and I were eating lunch at a local sandwich shop. We had just finished with the how’s-your-morning-been-going-so-far question and answer session and were moving on to a much deeper topic of conversation — a comment my husband had put on his Facebook page.

(For those not in the know, Facebook is an Internet site where the “in” people go to type whatever comes to their mind to share with other Facebook users. The whole thing is designed to be a social network of information exchange. However, in my opinion, Facebook is just one more thing we use that keeps us from having any kind of human interaction with each other. But that’s fodder for another column.)

Back to lunch. My husband told me what he had said on Facebook, and the comments he had gotten from other people about what he had shared. “Really?” I said. “I was just on Facebook and I didn’t read anything you had written.”

“How did you miss it?” he asked. It was then that we looked at each in shock. “Could it be? Is it true? You’re not my friend?” he asked incredulously. “I don’t think you’re my friend, either.” I was as shocked as he was. “How can we not be friends? We’re married!”

“I guess that has nothing to do with the fact that we are not friends, does it?” That’s when we started laughing … and noticing the couple at the table next to us was trying not to stare at us … which made us laugh even more. We laughed so hard we had to put down our sandwiches so we could wipe the tears from our eyes. I had just gotten control of myself when my husband feebly asked, “Honey, will you be my friend?”

So, we decided that, regardless of whether we were registered as friends to each other on Facebook, we would promise to continue to be friends to each other in real life. (We also each left the sandwich shop and went straight to our computers to make sure we were listed as each other’s friends on Facebook!)

Who are your friends? Are you friends with your spouse? Your family members? The Christian brothers and sisters who sit next to you during worship? More importantly, are you friends with God?

Isaiah 54:10 contains this promise from God: “’Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,’ says the LORD, who has compassion on you.” What other God has such love for His people? In Joshua and Isaiah and Hebrews, God told us, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” What other God makes that promise to His people?

Jesus talks about the love of friends for each other in John 15:9-17. He said that God loves us the same way God loves Jesus. He said if we obey His commands, we show we love Him, just as His obedience to God shows Jesus loves God. He said we are his friends if we do what He commands. He said, “Greater love has no one that this — that he lay down his life for his friends.” He said we were not His servants, because a servant doesn’t know any of his master’s business. He said we were His friends, because He has told us everything that He learned from His Father, God. He said we were chosen to be His friends.

All this brings to mind that great hymn, “What a Friend We Have In Jesus.” “What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear/What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer/O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear/All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.” I especially love the line in the second verse that reminds us of Jesus’ friendship with us: “Can we find a Friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?” And nothing compares to the promise of our Friend, Jesus, that “In His arms He’ll take and shield you; you will find a solace there.”

Wow! Can it get any better than that? How could we ever have a better Friend?

Verna Davis, friend of both her God and her husband, can be reached at VrdSpeaks@yahoo.com.