Chapter 1
“God spoke: "Let us make human beings in
our image, make them reflecting our nature so they can be responsible for the
fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, and, yes, Earth itself, and
every animal that moves on the face of Earth." {Gen 1:26} MSG
FRIENDSHIP
IS CONNECTIVITY
The word connectivity in its main purpose is to attach
something or to hold-on to a thing. For connection therein to be purposeful
there must be a deliberate agreement between two individual elem-ents. This
means, if anything is forced to be attached to a different entity, which is
forced in certainly will be pulled off OR detached from its attachment. By the way,
of understating this issue ‘REAL FRIEND’ which is a daily affairs concerning
two elements better still, two people or more that makes it become what it
means, there ought to be a deliberate definition.
In searching through the scriptures of the Bible, I find out that God
Himself does not like loneliness and He was never a lone ranger. He loves
friendship, communion, collaboration, attachment and even relationships. To
crown what I meant, I have discovered that human beings are connective
creatures created by the Connecting God. He knew that friendship is a relationship.
This is not just a fact but truth in all its sense of comprehension. God being
a connective God was proved in Gen. 1:26, when He declared, “let us make man…” showing that, there
was a companionship or a company in the cause to making “man.” He went on to observe that man was alone despite the animals
and flies present, so command to exist for man’s care. Hence, he declared again,
“it is not good for a man to be alone…”
(Gen. 2:18) He forbade man from being alone, not just for the bases of
procreation, sex and marriage but for companionship, friendship and support for
one another. For this very reason of connectivity, God created a companion (friend)
to be-friend the one alone and lonely, and based on this truth, I am asking
this question:
Was Friendship Part
Of God's Plan for Creation?
I believe your answer might be as good mine, with the understanding of Gen.
1:26 and Gen. 2:18. These are two scriptures, I believe answers this very
question, which means friendship, is in the creation structure of God. The Bible (the Old Testament), was originally
written in Aramaic and Hebrew, and the Hebrew word for “Friend” is “MÊRÊA”
which is translated as companion and confidential friend.
Jesus Christ
the role model and the Lord to the Christian faith though had many followers,
but picked only the twelve as disciples, yet not the entire twelve were his confidential
friends but only Peter(the stone), James, and John( the
sons of thunder). He never revealed who he really was to the entire
twelve, but before these three, he did transfigure. Therefore, friendship is in
the plan of God’s creation.
WHO IS A FRIEND?
Jesus Christ still gave the best picture of who a friend is or should
be, He said,
“This is my commandment: Love each other
in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one's
life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no
longer call you slaves, because a master does not confide in his slaves.
Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told
me.”[1]
In this very
scripture above as it concerns friendship, there are four important elements to
be considered for underst-anding of what real friendship ought to be;
(1) Love
each other: Friends do have love for each other; this should not be
a matter of what the individual possess but genuine love. Love is the strongest
element that keeps any relationship to grow with strength and to be admirable.
(2) One’s
life for one’s friends: Real friendship stands for a very
long-time, they help you grow as you do likewise, they represent you even when
you are not in the occasion you could not avail yourself due to busy schedule.
(3) Confide:
Although in this scripture, it indicate on not confide, but the word has to do
with the ability of trusting this individual.
(4) Since
I have told you everything:
This means a
friend is someone you are willing to tell everything, and you will want them to
keep your secrets as secret. A friend is one who loves you and will always
confide in you, with the understanding that he/she can go any length for you
and with you.
There is a saying that “a friend
is that one whose house is never too far.”[2]
The oxford advanced learners dictionary also said, “A friend is a person you know
well and like and who is not usually a member of your family.”
The meaning attached to what we call a thing is so many times ignored,
because some of us humans do not give a hood about why they are called what we
hear and why it sound that way. Friendship has rules and roles to play by those
involved; here is an example of God and His friend Abraham.
“And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham [My friend and servant]
what I am going to do,
…For I have known (chosen, acknowledged) him [as My own], so that he may
teach and command his children and the sons of his house after him to keep the
way of the Lord and to do what is just and righteous, so that the Lord may
bring Abraham what He has promised him.”[3]
This event reveals that friends do not hide things from each other, they
show and share intimacy of the truth of what is before them. Imagine, God not
wanting to hide what He intends to do on earth to His human friend, Abraham. Can we be real to this extent, that we share
our thoughts with the person we call our friend. The next chapter will tell us
how we can be real and know when someone is real toward us as friends.
contact Tonye S. Snithers
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