Facebook has 1.71 billion users and it is only 12 years old. It seems like it has been with us forever. Mark Zuckerberg’s goal is to friend all of humanity. I almost want to start singing “What a friend with have in Mark.” I wonder if when in the shower he sings the song from Toy Story “You have a friend in me.”
Friends are one of the most precious things on earth. Your bank account can’t hug you when you are down. Traditionally we close wedding ceremonies with the celebrant introducing the couple. In recent years I have taken to adding after the “Mr. and Mrs.” introduction the following. “And may they always be the best friends.”
One of my favorite texts is when Jesus said, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” John 15:15. Friends talk. And yet real friends are comfortable not talking when silence feels good. They know how the other is feeling without having to ask. In a restaurant you can tell which couples are not married. They are the ones talking. The married ones are playing with their cell phones checking the weather or their email. (That’s not so good.) But the point can be well made that just being together is wonderful because they are friends.
Even if Mr. Zuckerberg friends everyone in the world that will not make him the world’s best friend. The best friend is and always shall be Jesus. “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:17