Back in the day, when we unfriended someone, we walked away, erased their name off our notebook or wrote a \u201cDear John\u201d letter. Here we are \u2013 decades later and we can unfriend someone with the tap of a button. I don\u2019t \u201cunfriend\u201d but rather \u201cunfollow\u201d, usually because of their language, their rants, their lack of self-control. I still want them to follow me \u2013 hopefully, so they\u2019ll catch some Llight if they pass by my blog. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our lives are about relationships — with Jesus and with people He\u2019s created. Period. What concerns me most, is that people fail, disappoint, act up and act out, they let it rip \u2013 their language, I mean, without a thought or concern. I really do want to unfriend them because my little Pollyanna world needs to stay all peaches and cream. Right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Good thing I\u2019m not a god who carries a big stick. I\u2019d be whack-a-moleying those ornery folks all over the place. I\u2019m done with their lack of love, lack of decorum and lack of common sense. If some of them were my friends, I would unfriend them without a second thought. Go ahead, God! Let \u2018em have it! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then comes along the full-volume, yet gentle voice of God, with His personal guarantee, “I will NEVER unfriend them.” Argh! But, please, God! Then God\u2019s gentle tap on my shoulder reels me back into what His grace is all about. Our God would die before He would unfriend anyone. Fact is: our God did die rather than unfriend us. \u201cGreater love has no one than this: than to lay down one\u2019s life for His friends.” (John 15:13)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus didn\u2019t leave, unlike, or unfriend a single one of his twelve closest friends. Not even when they deserved it. He\u2019s not about to start with you and me. Instead, He kept on keeping the promise He first made that He would never leave or forsake His people. This is the God who moved into our neighborhood to be our friend. To know all about us and still love us. This is the God who has pursued you and me since before time and who never ever considers us a waste of time. This is a God who died on a cross to reach our hearts and souls to rescue us. We are loved \u2013 in spite of, because of, and instead of, but \u2013 do we believe it? Do we believe ours is His Love Story and in His Love Story \u2013 the Lover never leaves us. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
My precious and beloved friends \u2013 let Him love you and wrap you in His grace and mercy. Just say \u201cyes\u201d \u2013 ACCEPT His \u201cfriend\u201d request. He will take away all your sin, failings, fear and give you His own life \u2013 life to the full. “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10) You are loved!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Back in the day, when we unfriended someone, we walked away, erased their name off our notebook or wrote a \u201cDear John\u201d letter. Here we are \u2013 decades later and we can unfriend someone with the tap of a button. I don\u2019t \u201cunfriend\u201d but rather \u201cunfollow\u201d, usually because of their language, their rants, their lack…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11259,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15334,15332,14259,15331,15333],"tags":[15326,1210,15329,15327,15322,159,5594,15324,15328,4622,15323,1142,15320,15330,15321,15325],"class_list":["post-11258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-big-stick","category-dear-john-letter","category-relationships","category-unfriend","category-whack-a-mole","tag-big-stick","tag-blog","tag-dear-john-letter","tag-decorum","tag-erased","tag-john-1010","tag-john-1513","tag-lack-of-self-control","tag-lay-down-life","tag-pollyanna","tag-rant","tag-relationships","tag-their-name","tag-unfriend","tag-walked-away","tag-whack-a-mole"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11258"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11262,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11258\/revisions\/11262"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}