21st Century Wineskins

This morning I went to my blog stats just to see if anyone had visited lately, and looked at the “Search Engine Terms” section. There was one term – “20-40 year old Christian friends.” I copied and pasted it into Google to see where 21st Century Wineskins would show up in the results. Most of the time it’s so far down the list I stop looking, (but once it was the first listing on page 1)! I started scrolling through Google looking for any sign of my blog. I stopped at page 5, not because I found my post, but because another one caught my eye.

“What Happens When We Have NO Friends” looked interesting in light of my last post. The article itself is not all that great, but the comments are both fascinating and heartbreaking. The article was posted on June 23, 2006. The most recent of the 1,700+ comments was posted 3 days ago. This topic really struck a nerve with many lonely people.

Please click the article’s title above and take a few minutes to read some of the comments. Then think of people in your circle of acquaintance who may fit the profile described in there. To my younger readers, please note how many of the lonely people are in their 20′s.

Some of those who commented spoke of feeling like outcasts, others said they lacked social skills, a few mentioned they were quite shy, others were bubbly, but couldn’t make connections, and, saddest of all, in my opinion, were the people who said their only friend in life was an animal.

Jesus was a friend of sinners – emphasis on friend. Look at some of the people he befriended:

▸ Zacchaeus, a corrupt government official (1st century IRS agent) (Luke 19:1-10)

▸ The Woman at the Well, a woman who had looked for love in all the wrong places (John 4:7:26)

▸ A life-long paraplegic with no one to help him when he most needed it (John 5:1-9)

▸ The “Untouchable,” a leper shunned by the rest of the community (Matthew 8:1-3)

If they were alive today, I can imagine each one of these people responding to this blog. They all had one thing in common – no friends. That is until Jesus came into their life.

So, here’s my challenge to us all, but especially to those who claim to be followers of Jesus – Look around you for lonely people, follow the lead of your Lord and Savior, and extend a hand of friendship.

Look for:

▸ The person at school or work who always sits alone in the cafeteria. Go sit with them.

▸ The person in the office who always seems to be just outside the circle of conversation. Take a step back and make room in the circle for them.

▸ The person who is socially awkward and occasionally embarrasses themselves in public. Open your heart and extend grace and show you accept them rough edges and all.

▸ The person whose only living companion is a pet. Invite them to dinner, out for a cup of coffee, to your kid’s soccer game. Let them know there is a sentient being other than the cat who cares for them.

▸ The person who is feeling suicidal and thinks that no one would miss them if they were gone. Come alongside them and let them know you’d miss them if they were to take their own life.

Doing this won’t be easy.

We may feel we are already “too ‘friended’” as one reader put it recently. He went on to say, “We have so many relationships that we don’t have either the desire or room for more. To change that requires a pretty deliberate action, maybe even the reduction of time with existing friends, brothers and sisters in the Lord.”

This is exactly what Jesus calls us to – deliberate action to move outside of our me-centered world into the worlds of the hurting and lonely. Following Jesus is to say, “Yes, I have room for you in my circle of friends.” He would do it if he were physically present on earth, but since he’s not, he asks us to do it for him. As Christ followers we are his hands and feet, eyes and ears, and most importantly, his heart.

By following Christ into the world of the lonely we have the potential to change someone’s life, but may also save one as well.