Friend (Lake)

 . . . he does no evil to his friend.

 - From Psalm 15

There's an interesting reference to the deeds of good people, in the 15th Psalm. Most of this passage describe the qualities of people found worthy to dwell in God's tabernacle. No guile. They don't cheat, they don't commit fraud. They tell the truth. He doesn't even take back his word . . .

(That last one is something I needed right now, as I have spent all afternoon trying to weazle out of a commitment for tomorrow).

But what's this that I quoted above?

The good person "does no evil to his friend."

Doesn't that sound relevant in the age of Social Media? Don't we all have lots of "friends" on-line, and don't we actually do wrong to a lot of them, maybe most of them?

The bad-mouthing, the gossip, the ganging up . . . the ridicule . . . the blocking!

I even know many cases where someone "unfriended" their own personal friend, on Facebook.

A good man is so good, that he doesn't even do something wrong to his friend!

Last night, I had an experience that was something like this . . . I held an Open House for my business. Open Houses are great opportunities to generate excitement for some new idea, or venture. It is very important that we have a great turnout, and that my friends show up to add to the sense of momentum and electricity.

My friends? My good friends?

Evil is a very loaded and heavy word. But it actually means the absence of good. It takes effort to be a good friend. An event like an Open House may actually involve the expense of catering in food, and paying for staff to be there . . . which mine (ours) did, last night.

There were three categories of friends that I would typify as "good friends," that I thought for sure would be represented there. Added together, there are about forty total people in these three groups. But not a single one of any of them showed up. Good friends show up for things.

I said to one of my co-workers, whom I know to be actively questioning her own faith: "I did something earlier this week . . . that we'll see if gets some turnout from either (the three groups)". 

What I did, was to ask several representative from each group, to pray with me, that the respective group had some representation there, as we really needed their help now.

When they showed up, and I knew some would, I would tell my co-worker that it was prayer that got them there. But I didn't get to brag on the power of prayer to my friends, because no one showed up.

The good news is that we had a large crowd anyway. So here's the thing . . .

You can identify your friends . . . your good friends . . . they show up. They respond. They put in the effort. They don't even do you wrong!

To your friends, be a friend. Be a real friend.