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T HE K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S S trained R elations Between F riends. Sometimes friends disagree and th e re fore sep arate or live in strain ed rela tions w ith each other. It is no t exactly a quarrel. Oh no, we ju st disagree about some m a tte r and th e d rift sets in. Your F rien d didn’t w an t you to make friends of His enemies. They were very anxious to have your friend ship. They were nice, kind, lovely, lovable friends and maybe old friends of your family, b u t they were not friends of His. I t was so h ard to cross th e ir wishes, or desires. You didn’t w an t to grieve them or lose th e ir friend ship. I t w asn’t th a t you cared about th e card p arty or th e dance or th e th ea trical. Oh no, th a t would have been easily settled, if th a t h ad been all, bu t they m ight he offended if you refused their- invitation, or you didn’t w ant to seem as if you were oondemning them or m aking yourself appear more holy or religious th a n they. I t was a tig h t place and a very awkward position. Jesu s saw how you were fixed and waited wondering w hat you would do. He is too much of a gentlem an to in te r fere w ith your affairs and too sensitive to em barrass you w ith H is wishes. You decided to re ta in your friends and you did, b u t th e re is a very strain ed , awk ward, feeling between you and Jesus ever since. You remember P ilate and Herod became friends th a t day they refused Jesus. Is the loss of th e friend ship of Jesus worth th e friendship you have retained? “T h ere’s not a friend like th e lowly Jesus. No, not one.” You have found th is out. You cannot have the friendship of th is world and His. You must choose one or th e other, for they are m utually antagonistic. Ju st like ligh t and darkness. T u rn your back on every friend however dear, if retain ing th e ir friendship means losing His. Sometimes friends p a rt one from an o ther because they quarrelled. Each felt th e o ther was w rong and so they parted. It- may have been th a t way with
you. The Lord clearly showed you His will and you knew you would be dis obedient if you didn’t yield. It was a h ard struggle for a tim e and you counted the cost as far as you could at th e time, and you took your own way and p arted company w ith your dearest, tru e st and best friend. He w anted you for th e m inistry, b u t you didn’t w ant such a life of self sacrifice and persecu tion, so you determ ined to make money and prosper. You trie d to bribe Him by prom ising H im you would give a te n th of your money and help H is work. You- knew .you couldn’t bribe Him. Obe dience is b etter th a n sacrifice. You may have prospered, b u t a t w h at a terrib le -cost. He w anted you for a foreign m is sionary, b u t it was too dread fu l leaving home and loved ones and living in a strang e land, among strange people, so you disobeyed and were estranged and have been ever since. He w anted you to become an active w orker in His church, sing in th e choir, teach a class in th e Sunday School, hold office in the church. You h adn ’t time. Yet you could sing a t concerts or parties, you could find tim e to be a director in a cor poration or officer in your lodge or club, so you had. a qu arrel about it and you felt your friend was making too severe a demand on you and you have felt piqued and in ju red and hardly trea ted by H im and you are no t on friendly term s w ith Him. Well, rem em ber, dear friend, you can never get Him to change His m ind or sacrifice H is will to gain your friendship. Oh no, He is too tru e for th a t. If we have allowed anything in th e p ast to .bring about cold ness between us and our dearest and best F riend, let us from th is hour have done w ith it and not merely appreciate and app rop riate His friendship, bu t w arm ly reciprocate it by yielding our selves and our lives unreservedly to H im and tak e tim e to cultivate His friendship day by day, th rough read ing His word and m editating on it, and prayer and implicitly obeying H im in everything.
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