A young man we know is pretty distraught over a death in his family. Suddenly, he's decided to delete a bunch of Facebook friends.
I've talked with people who have been the deleted friends of someone else I know. It really hurt. It's quite a time we live in. You can delete a relationship with a stroke of your finger.
People have been deleting other people forever - it's just gotten easier now. And, in some ways, more brutal. But most of us know how "deleted" feels - whether it came from someone turning on us, abandoning us, divorcing us, forgetting us. Or maybe they just died on us. No matter how it happens, it hurts.
I'm more grateful than ever that I have a friend who absolutely will never delete me - no matter what.
Jesus has promised me - and everyone who belongs to Him - "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you" (Hebrews 13:5). And Jesus has never broken a promise.
This part of the Bible goes on to say that "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8). Man, does that sound awesome in a world where everything from governments to gas prices to politics to relationships is changing wildly. One anchor Relationship. One unloseable Person.
It's pretty amazing that I can call the Son of God my friend. But His Word says I can. "We can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God" (Romans 5:11). And Jesus actually said to those who follow Him, "Now you are my friends" (John 15:15). And He proved how much He loved me by how much He sacrificed for me. In His words, He loved us enough to "lay down His life for His friends" (John 15:13).
That's how I know He'll never delete me. If He was ever going to turn His back on me, it would have been when He was suffering and dying on that cross for all the things I've done against Him. And He hung there until He could say, "It is finished." He did that because He wants me - and you - to be with Him forever. If we're not, it will be because we deleted Him.