Fan or Friend?

Facebook has 2 basic kinds of pages. Most of us are familiar with the standard page. We set up a profile and begin searching for “friends.” These are people we are familiar with and we want to be familiar with us! We know there are different levels of friendship, but most of limit friends to people we actually know or who know us! But there is another kind of page that you can get. On a normal page, you can only have 5,000 friends. For most of us that will last us 3 life-times. But, if you’re famous… you can start a fan page. But fan pages are different. These people are under no illusion that you are friends. They are fans.

A fan isn’t someone who expects you to be involved in their lives. They just like what you’re doing, think you’re interesting and want to keep track of what’s going on in your career or business. A fan doesn’t expect a birthday greeting. A fan doesn’t expect a message during tough times. Oh, you might give some feedback, but you know that they may never read it… after all, you’re a fan, not a friend.

Let me ask you a question that came to me when riding the motorcycle yesterday? Are you a fan of God or a friend of God? A fan of God likes the thought of God. A fan wants to be aware of God, but doesn’t really expect him to change their lives. A fan wants to feel connected, informed and involved, but without any of the costs. A fan likes to ride on bandwagons. A fan favors image over substance.

A friend of God hears from God and listens to Him. A friend of God longs for time with Him. A long time ago, Jesus described people who would do all kinds of “good” things. And he foretold when they would stand before Him and He would say, “I never knew you. Away from me,… (Matt. 7:23).” These were God-fans! They weren’t God-friends.

God wants friends, not fans. He doesn’t want us to be informed about him. He wants us to be engaged with Him; engaged through faith in Jesus, the Savior who made a real friendship possible. And let me encourage you with another thought, His friend page isn’t limited to 5,000 friends. There is always room for someone who wants to be a friend of God.