The Eternal Triangle

‘WHEN YOU COME TOGETHER... LET ALL THINGS BE DONE FOR BUILDING UP’

(1 Corinthians 14:26)

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‘GROW UP IN EVERY WAY... INTO CHRIST’

(Ephesians 4:15)

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‘WHOEVER SPEAKS, AS ONE WHO SPEAKS ORACLES OF GOD’

(1 Peter 4:11)

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‘AS EACH HAS RECEIVED A GIFT, USE IT TO SERVE ONE ANOTHER’

(1 Peter 4:10)

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13th November: The Eternal Triangle

The Lord is between thee and me for ever. 1 Sa 20:23

There are few friendships as deep, as fruitful and as honouring to God as that of David and Jonathan. It repays study. Their secret -- `The Lord between'. The Lord was between them --

As witness

In the context of 1 Samuel 20:23 and 42, he was witness to their vows of loyalty to each other. Would to God that we could ask him to witness every aspect of our friendships!

As restraint

All Christians are required to live within the clear limits of God's law. Whether man or woman, married or single, hetero- or homosexual, all are subject to moral pressures and temptations of some sort. Regardless of genetic make-up we are all equally handicapped by our fallen human nature and without exception are subject to the restraints of God's word. No-one has a monopoly of disadvantages, no-one can say, `but I'm different'.

As uniting force

If our friendship is of God, the closer we are to him the closer we are to each other and the closer to each other the closer to him. This is no sentimental platitude but a searching and practical test. Does our friendship disturb, dull and detract from our spiritual life? or does it make prayer and Bible study more attractive and meaningful, and God's call to service more clear and insistent?

As first priority

`Whoever comes to me cannot be my disciple unless he loves me more than he loves... his wife, his brothers and sisters, and himself as well' (Lk 14:26 GNB). Real Christian friendship is a by-product of Christian commitment and not an end in itself. It is only possible to give ourselves wholly to someone who is given wholly to Jesus if we are not to be faced with divided loyalties.

As liberation

There may be times of enforced separation, perhaps during years of hospital residence or in missionary service. Constant physical nearness is not essential to true Christian friendship. Jonathan was able to say to David, `I will send you away', because he knew `the Lord has sent you away' (1 Sa 20:13,22). `The Lord between' frees us to serve and obey him.

God will be Master of our emotional life whether by the restrains of singleness or by the `crucible of marriage' (Stanley Baldwin, `What Jesus says about...').

Lord, I pray that earthly friendship may never separate me from you.
Rather may you always be between me and my friends, drawing us
closer to each other, as we grow up `into you' in all things.