Faith, Hope and Love

In the beginning, when God made man, He said, "It is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." And God made woman to be man's companion. Though this event is often thought to refer to marriage, I believe it applies to friendship as well. No man is an island. From creation, God knew our need for companionship. In the case of Adam, God gave him Eve. For those of us who are not married, God has given us friends! Imagine how boring life would be if none of us has any friends! King Solomon talks about the advantages of companionship in Ecclesiastes 4:7-12 I observed yet another example of meaninglessness in our world. This is the case of a man who is all alone, without a child or a brother, yet who works hard to gain as much wealth as he can. But then he asks himself, "Who am I working for? Why am I giving up so much pleasure now?" It is all so meaningless and depressing. Two people can accomplish more than twice as much as one...

Some of us lament that we do not know when God is speaking to us. Others complain that God seems so far away from us. Actually, our relationship with God is somewhat like our relationship with our human friends. It takes some effort on our part to maintain it. For friends we keep in touch with regularly, we recognise their voice instantly when they call. We know their likes and dislikes and there is always a sense of closeness when we are around them. For friends we only talk to once in a while, we may not always recognise their voice, nor are we likely to understand them very well. The same rule applies for our relationship with God. Of course, for our human friends, we do not treat all of them the same. For various reasons, some get more of our time while others get less. Our best friends generally get more of our time. The question one then asks is – how about God? If we consider Jesus as our best friend, then we should be spending more time with Him than with anyone else. But ...