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My Friend


Perhaps you are like me, a Christian who has non-Christian friends. You never really talk about Christianity, God, or even on a generic level, religion. Sure, you might mention now and then that you go to church. You feel as though living a Christian life is witness enough. Besides, it's up to God to grant salvation. So, you keep your groups of friends separate, live your life, and never really give it another thought.
That's how I was. I had a non-Christian friend who was someone I considered to be one of my closest friends. Pretty ironic, huh? The fact he wasn't a Christian didn't bother me. After all, Jesus came into the world to save sinners - non-Christians - not believers, so associating with non-believers was part of the Christian life. My friend knew I went to church. Whenever I mentioned anything about church, he grew strangely quiet, or ignored what I said and spoke about something else. I never pushed the subject. After all, I told myself, I don't want to offend him and jeopardize our friendship. Perish the thought!
I thought about it logically and concluded some people were never going to receive salvation. That's just the way things are. Who was I to decide who went to heaven and who went to hell? So, I never discussed the topic with him. But one conversation changed that. We hadn't spoken in a while. We had competing schedules. But it was Thanksgiving and we both had some free time to catch up. During our conversation, we spoke about the election, some of the fundamental differences with the parties, and some key issues we saw in our nation. Specifically, we spoke about how society forced God out of just about every area it could.
I recommended the book, The Harbinger, by Jonathan Cahn, in which he parallels the plight of the Jews in Isaiah 9:10 to what is happening in our nation today. We spoke about biblical prophecy. We even spoke about heaven and hell. He downloaded The Harbinger on his Kindle while we spoke. I was truly uplifted by our conversation. For the first time in our fourteen-year friendship, I made progress. I had taken my first step in witnessing to him. I even went so far at to tell him what I believe about Jesus and the Bible. Surely He would be pleased! Drawing from a quote I read, I told him I'd rather live my life as though God existed and find out he doesn't when I die rather than live as though he didn't exist and find out he does when it’s too late.
But my work was not done yet, which is why I wrote this essay. After I got off the phone with him, I thought about our conversation and about our friendship. We have some great memories. Our first meeting was in the car on the way to boot camp. We went all through boot camp together, and we often liken our friendship to the meeting of Smith and Wesson. As I reflected on our friendship, a vision occurred to me.
I was in heaven. The scene was very much like an exclusive party, which it was in a way. Friends and family members were greeting one another; they engaged in conversation; some hugged; some cried in joy. In the midst of the large crowd, I could see Jesus making his way in my direction. He was smiling as he greeted everyone by name. Finally, he reached me. He reached out his hand, shook mine, and gave me a hug, welcoming me to heaven. I was overjoyed. But then he whispered in my ear, "Hey, I need to talk to you for a minute." I was a bit taken aback. We moved off to the side, and his face took on a somber expression. He looked me right in the eye and said, "I want to talk to you about your friend."
Perhaps Jesus had run into him as he made his way over to me and wanted to discuss his salvation. After all, I did mention God and the Bible to him and told him what I believed. As I was mulling this thought over in my mind, Jesus pointed. Instantly a window appeared, and I saw my friend. He was in a lake of fire, covered in brimstone, and screaming in complete agony. I watched him bob in the molten fire, surrounded by many, many others, all of whom bobbed in the fiery liquid and screamed in unimaginable pain. The only time their screams stopped is when their heads submerged briefly only to break the surface a moment later with ear piercing screams.
Needless to say, I was speechless. The window closed, and Jesus looked at me intently. "Why didn't you tell him about me? He was your friend. "As I opened my mouth to reply, Jesus turned and greeted another believer. He smiled brilliantly and said in a loud voice, "Well done, my good and faithful servant." My heart sank. It was at that moment I realized I had not done enough. I made excuses not to share the gospel. I worried more about what my friend might think of me than I did his soul and where he would spend eternity. I failed as a friend; I failed as a Christian. Although I made it to heaven, I had never really lived for God. I followed the script - went to church, put my money in the collection plate, and volunteered for church functions.
All of that was for naught. I labored in vain and had nothing to show for my effort because I never took the time to witness to anyone, not even my friends. I never evangelized or shared the gospel. Had I taken the time to continue our conversation and share the Good News with my friend, our relationship may have continued for eternity. What could be better than continuing a friendship for eternity?
How many of you have friends? How many of you have neighbors you smile at and greet, you wish them a Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, or Happy Easter, but you never take the time to share the gospel with them? You leave it up to God. After all, it's his business, not ours, right? Well, I've decided that I don't want to have that conversation with Jesus one day. I'd rather lose a few friends here than for eternity.

Are you a good friend?

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