August 2010On August 7, 2010, many woke to the news of 10 Christian aid workers murdered in Afghanistan. They were six Americans, one German, one Briton, and two Afghan interpreters. There have been many things written about Christian humanitarian work by the mainstream media for years and in this recent senseless crime they again failed to point out the friend factor. They have missed the basic premises that the true character of a friend is love, and God is love.
The greatest attribute of a friend will always be that they will voluntarily for love lay down their life for you. We have seen this time and time again in Hollywood war movies and dramatic epics of senseless violence. The fact is that a friend known can most of the time be counted on. A greater fact is that an unknown friend of God is better than a friend of yours.
Let me put it simply by saying that a friend of God has a vested interest in the greater good. The average citizen rarely keeps more than two close friends they can truly count on. Ironically enough you see missionaries visiting unknown lands and sharing with total strangers their love with a passion greater than that of a close friend. Why you may ask? The reason is they love God and are a friend of God.
Greater love has no man than to lay his life down for a friend. God knows that and for the family and relatives of the many Christian martyrs that have gone to their everlasting home by being a loving friend in unloving lands may the blessings of God be upon them.