What a Friend

Dennis Kozlowski was born in a poor neighborhood in Newark, NJ. With a combination of amazing ambition and incredible opportunity, he climbed the corporate ladder becoming the Chief Executive Officer of Tyco, International. His drive turned a small, unknown company into a profitable multi-national one, that made money for a lot of people. Along the way, Dennis lost his way! Making over $100 million a year, he became a symbol of greed and excess. There was a $60 million private yacht, a $2 million birthday party, the mansions in Boca Raton, Colorado, and New York, and private jets on call. Convicted of wrongfully using his company's funds and tax evasion, he now occupies a small cell in a New York State Prison. The money is almost all gone, and, he is mostly alone! His wife, Karen, on whom he lavished gifts, divorced him. His friends disappeared. In an interview with 60 Minutes (CBS News) he sadly admitted that they didn't care for Dennis, but rather for Dennis' money.

Solomon observed that "Wealth makes many "friends"; poverty drives them all away." (Proverbs 19:4, NLT) Jesus told a story about a young man who took his inheritance and went off to the big city where he "wasted all his money in wild living." (Luke 15:13, NLT) He ended up alone, working for a pig farmer, and thinking about home. Who wanted to hang out with a guy who was broke and homesick? That's the universal human experience. When we are winning at life, full of laughter, and going strong - everybody wants to be a friend. When the bad times come, sometimes as a result of our sinful and/or stupid choices and sometimes for reasons we cannot begin to understand, many of our 'friends' disappear. In those moments we discover who really loves us, don't we?

A person who invests himself in building a network of real friends, not just party associates, is a wise man! One of my goals as a Believer is to love others authentically, not just the beautiful, the whole, and the happy, but all those that are part of God's great big wonderful family. I want to filled with the heart of Jesus who loved the broken and cared about the hurting. The religious elite in Jesus' time hurled this 'accusation' at Him - "he is a friend of sinners." Those that they considered the outcasts of society, were not beneath Jesus' friendship. I know about that because- He loves me! At the point in my life when I was most broken, spiritually and emotionally, He was there. That's the kind of man I want to be for those who are my friends, a true friend for all times.

Acceptance should be the mark of the true Christian. Jesus said that our love for each other would distinguish us from the rest of the world. What kind of love? Certainly not the highly conditional kind that is withdrawn at the moment of failure, sickness, or misfortune! The quality of love that marks us is modeled on His love, a love that cost Him His life which He gave on our behalf while we were still rejecting Him, doing our own thing. His love for us is powerful. "First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first. If anyone boasts, "I love God," and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both." (1 John 4:19-21, The Message)

Know somebody who needs a friend? Be a friend to them! Make the measure of the quality of your friendship, the friendship you have received from God.
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What a friend I've found,
Closer than a brother;
I have felt Your touch,
More intimate that lovers.

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,Friend forever.

What a hope I've found,
More faithful than a mother;
It would break my heart
To ever lose each other.

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,Friend forever.

What a Friend© Martin Smith 1996 Curious? Music UK (Admin. by EMI Christian Music Publishing) CCLI License No. 810055