Convenient Friendships

The world of football (what Americans call soccer) offers a lot of opportunities to learn valuable lessons on life and its realities. When things are going well, people will put their idolized footballers on every possible pedestal and stop short of canonizing them. They become something like small gods whose 'small errors of judgement' can be laughed away. When the team is losing or playing badly, the once-revered heroes become the objects of ridicule and hatred. One week ago, many people were singing the praises of one Cristiano Ronaldo, then a few days later he was being criticized for apathy and inefficiency in front of goal. Same thing happened to Robin van Persie of the Netherlands.

This behaviour is not limited to football fans, or sports fans in general. This is a common human trait, they will love you when you're up, they will kick you when you're down. It is as if the typical human response to a fellow man's downfall is to smugly thank God that the same fate has not come their way. There are those who will empathize with such sufferers, but there are similarly those who will silently enjoy front-row seats to the movie of your pain. These are convenient friends, laughing with you when all is well and laughing at you when stuff gets tough.

How do we respond to convenient friends? How do we handle people who only love us when we are on top and then kick us when we are in the gutter? We love them! That's what Jesus said. He loved those who strung Him up on a tree, loved those who lashed His back, loved Him who betrayed Him thrice, loved Him who gave Him up to the High Priests, loved us before we loved Him, loves us even when we fail Him. Love Beyond Reason is a book by John Ortberg that wondefully highlights this theme, and it's the book I just finished reading. Love them, especially when this love doesn't make sense. Face it, you aren't much better either.