Here I go again talking about my wonderful late dad. My late dad told us when he was alive to be very careful with those people we call friends. To buttress his point, he told us of what happened to him when he was living in a city called Jos, here in Nigeria. He had a “well trusted friend” – the kind of friend you eat with, drink with and sleep, with your two eyes closed. The type you would describe as “my best friend.” Unknown to him, the guy was a devil in human clothing. One day, on his return from work, his well trusted friend had cleared everything in the house they both shared and disappeared into thin air. He had to start all over again.
Consider this true life story too. A man dates a lady for years (call her Miss A). Unknown to her, the man had been dating another lady (call her Miss B). He concludes marriage with this secret lover and goes ahead to circulate the invitation cards which a friend of Miss A runs into and shows to her! You can imagine a 100 pounder reducing to less than 55 pounds. It was a horrible experience for her.
Consider this one too. A guy is jobless for many years. He luckily runs into an old friend of his who works in a bank. He is assisted to get into the bank by his friend. To show that truly “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked….”(Jere 17:9), he conspires against his friend who helped him into the bank and the guy is fired. Later, life took a downward turn for the sacked friend. He turns to his friend for help and he simply tells him to stay away after helping him once.
Are you tired or bored? One last gist – A man lives with his happy family. The wife’s friend comes visiting one day. She becomes friends with her friend’s husband. In no time, the man starts having an affair with the wife’s friend. The wife gets to know and a once peaceful and enviable family becomes a war zone. In the end, they head to the court for a divorce.
Betrayals, deceit, lies, insincerity, dishonesty, infidelity, backstabbing, selfishness, conspiracy, eye-service, amongst others are the order of the day in today’s friendship and relationships.
But this is true and genuine friendship – the friendship of our Lord Jesus? – cursed, bruised, kicked, insulted, disgraced, betrayed and nailed, and later died on the cross that you and I could live; that our sinful lives could be washed clean”…for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” – (Romana 6:23).
A real friend that He is, “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed – (Isaiah 53:5).
This is true and genuine friendship. What a friend we have in Jesus.
HAPPY EASTER TO YOU ALL !!!