I know I’m probably going against the grain here, but that’s kinda what I do…
Jimmy Kimmel declared November 17th National Unfriend Day to encourage people to ‘cut the fat’ from their Facebook friends lists. Makes sense, right? After all, who wants friends that send all those annoying Farmville requests no matter how many times you ignore them?
Um, well, Jesus would…
I can’t help but to think about how thankful I am for the fact that Jesus would NEVER unfriend me, no matter how annoying I get.
A couple of passages come to mind…
The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.
~ Deuteronomy 31:8
Because of this great love that we receive, we’re encouraged to to return it to others…
Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.
~ Proverbs 3:3
So I’m wondering… how Christ-like is it to ‘unfriend’ people. Shouldn’t we rather be reaching out to those who ‘annoy’ us the most, and share the extravagant love that we’ve been given?
I’m not the best at keeping up with this, but I love doing what I call the 3-by-3 challenge. Rather than unfriending someone on Facebook today, maybe we can try picking up this activity for a while…
Share an encouraging comment (or prayer) with three people you know on Facebook three times per week.
Thoughts?
great perspective…thanks for sharing!
Thanks Tom! And I actually laughed out loud when I saw the spam tweet mentioning us because of the #unfriend tweets!
I see what you mean when you said you had a different thought about this than I did 🙂 And you make some good points – especially the 3-by-3 challenge. Something to think about…
yeah… i love the different perspectives when people talk about the same topics. i don’t think that means that either of us is right or wrong, just that we looked at it differently. i can totally see the value in the ideas on your post. i think that it gets down to a balance… be careful who you friend, but nurture those friendships that you decide to maintain.
great conversation!
this is such a great concept – it reminds me of a song by Israel Houghton called “I am a Friend of God” – here are some of the lyrics:
“Who am I that you are mindful of me
That you hear me, when I call …
I am a friend of God, he calls me friend.”
The fact that God loves the unloveable is exactly what makes His message so powerful. And it’s the biggest reason that someone like me can actually have a relationship with Him. I’m SO thankful that He doesn’t turn me away… so why in the world would I ever turn someone else away….
LOVE the song!