I have recently come back from a very short visit to Adelaide. While I was there I had the opportunity to catch up with a good friend from the past whom I haven't seen for almost 6 years. I walked away from the visit uplifted and encouraged.
In high school we were good friends and got along like a house on fire, but like most male-female friendship relationships in high school a lot of our friendship was based soley on the fact that we went to the same school and shared EVERY class! We both knew that the other was a Christian but the conversation never went further than that, although I do believe now that it is our shared belief that has kept us connected for the past 5 years despite living almost 3000km apart.
I have often heard my friends and parents tell stories of their old high school friends who they used to attend church or youth group with who have fallen away from the Lord or have drifted from the church. These stories always sadden me and always made me afraid that one day I would have to share the same story.
So when I caught up with Simon I was so excited to see that, not only was he still a Christian but he was a stronger Christian and more on fire for God than he was when I last saw him! For the first time on our 7-8 year friendship we talked openly about our faith with each other and shared experiences. I was so happy when he asked me things like "So what have you been learning in church lately?" because not only did it show me that he cared about my relationship with God but it also showed me that our friendship, through our shared faith, was continually growing. It showed me that unlike some of my other high school friendships, ours wasn't stuck in high school!
I am going to make a very big generalisation now, and please feel free to leave a comment and correct me if I am wrong but this is simply based on my personal experience. Of all my past high school friendships I have found that once school has finished, those friends who aren't Christians have drifted away no matter how hard I have tried to maintain the friendship. However my Christian friends have not just stuck by me all these years but have also grown with me.
I find this both encouraging and frightening at the same time.
Its encouraging because I know that God has provided me with a wonderful base of support and I will always have someone there to talk to and who in return will pray from me. I can do the same for them and in this way our friendships will only grow stronger.
Its frightening because it means that my non-Christian friends are having less and less Christian influence in their lives and as we move on and forget (which we as humans do) they have less and less people praying for them. It also makes me ask the question, why are they pulling away? Is it because they feel like they are being judged by me and my friends? Do they feel left out when I start talking about church and youth activities? are they really the ones pulling away or am I the one who is pulling away?
So I am rejoicing in the fact that my faith and God and our shared salvation through Christ has cemented and strengthened my relationships with the wonderful people in my life but I am challenged now to find another way to build and strengthen my relationship with my non-Christian friends. To find a way to make them feel like they are welcome to share in my life, to help them to see that I love them regardless of whether they come to church or not. and most importantly to share the love of God with them and pray for them so that one day they too might find the joy that I have found in being called a child of God.
I leave you with the challenge to do them same. I encourage you to pray for and strengthen your Christian friends by sharing your faith with them and allowing them to share their faith in you. But further I challenge you to hold fast to your non-Christian friends, pray for them, share your lives and your love with them, show them the love of God and take every opportunity to share the gospel with them so that one day they too may be able to be called a child of God!
3 comments:
I might make a suggestion that it possibly has a lot to do with the fact that you attended (in Townsville, at least) a Christian school. Now, while I'm an open proponent of state schools, I'll certainly never criticise anyone for sending their children to/ attending a Christian school.
*However*, I think you'll find that a majority of *non-Christian* students at Christian schools will "drift away" from their Christian friends a lot faster than non-Christian students from state schools.
I certainly don't claim to *know* why this is so, but I can take a good guess based on opinions I've heard from non-Christians who attended Christian/Catholic schools.
Non-Christian students at a Christian school have been continuously exposed to Christianity, and have possibly had bad experiences with it due to their schooling- maybe being bullied (by a student or teacher), being forced to go to chapel, whatever. People like this, I think, are likely to extricate themselves from the Christian sub-culture- and, consequently, their Christian friends- as fast as possible, sad as it is.
When it comes to non-Christian students at state schools (who have Christian friends), however, chances are they haven't had any unwanted 'religion' forced on them, and so there is no sub-culture they are desperate to get out of. Instead, they're happy to keep plodding along in life with the same friends they had in high school, who may well include Christians.
This may be the case, however in this particular blog I was actually referring mostly to my non-Christian friends that I made while attending a public school.
The very few non-Christian students that attended the Christian school were never actually that close ot me and therefore never actually drifted away. I am pretty sure that I would agree with you if I had actually been close friends witht he non-Christians that went to my school.
surely something has been happening in your life. Its been ages since you published a blog last!
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