Friends For Keeps

Difference of opinion was never, with me, a motive of separation from a friend.
–Thomas Jefferson

Famous lines from a famous person. Well, we all have friends and had our share of these so-called betrayals and separations. The Lord Jesus Christ himself experienced this when a person whom He considered friend betrayed Him. And the fact is He didn’t stop calling Judas his friend after all that this friend of His did to Him.

And Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you have come for.”  Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and seized Him (Matthew 26:50).

How thoughtful was that of the Lord Jesus. He called and chose Judas to be one of his disciples. They were together in the past three years – through thick and thin. This friend of Him saw almost every miracle He did – from calming the storm to feeding the multitude, from healing the sick to raising the dead. He was a witness to His deity and the legitimacy of His ministry. Moreover, this man is among those persons that he spent his earthly ministry with. He eats what this person eats and goes through whatever he is experiencing. And after all these, this man thinks that He is just worth thirty pieces of silver. Painful as it surely is, He still managed to call him friend.

The bible says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8 NASB). Allow me to spiritualize this more. We are all witnesses to the goodness of the Lord Jesus Christ up to these times. We come to Him in prayer in our most difficult times and find favour and have our prayers answered. Yet there come times in our lives when we betray Him. We deny our relationship with Him just to get hired in the job we have always longed for. We have His Words and teachings violated just for the approval of our peers. And yet we could always feel His caring hands touching us every day as if He is saying to us again and again, “Friend, do what you want to do (and I will still call you friend)”.

Will we be like Judas who will still pursue the “thirty pieces of silver” and give up the friendship the He offers and go on with that kiss of betrayal? Or will we stop whatever those schemes in our hearts are and say “I’m sorry my friend. Can we start over again?”

Judas could have done that and prevented the doubts that we have now when we ask, “Is Judas saved?” Well, Christ’s sacrifice that brought forth salvation by grace was not yet consumed by that time. Today, His grace is available and sufficient even for those who, in several times were proven guilty of betraying a good friend named Jesus in our everyday lives. What will be our response? It’s about time we change history and show love to a loyal friend…