The Olive Branch Report

Written by: Joanne Baumeister Turner founder of Comfort In The Arms of God Ministries
Copyright© 2013 Joanne Baumeister Turner
Reprinted with permission

How did you get to know your best friend on Facebook? Remember back! Didn’t you spend time learning about them, talking for hours on chat sometimes not caring if anything else got done, exchanging your lives; being there for them in crisis. You can’t see your best friend because of the miles that separate you; you can’t touch them or put your arms around them; yet you communicate with them in writing and you have come to know them deeply, maybe better than you’ve ever known another friend. Maybe you’ve even shared things you would never have shared with anyone but this special person. It is a mutual exchange. You have grown to know and love each other through your written words because that’s all you have.

Now, consider if you met God on Facebook. Your life with God is ignited in your heart by God’s calling, but your relationship is forged on the written Word. He planted the seeds of longing in your heart at conception, then He made the move in your spirit to open a dialog – He asked you to “Friend” Him. He may have pulled you from the pit; or you may have gradually felt that chasm of deep emptiness that could only be filled by Him. But you were drawn to seek Him out. So, you “review His profile” – learn the basics about Him, and decide if you want to come to know Him – to pursue this relationship. If so, you accept His gesture of friendship. (I know. It’s irreverent! I don’t mean to make light of your relationship with God, but sometimes it helps to look at our life with God by comparing it with what we understand. This is an exercise in reason – just to cause you to think deeply.)

God’s Word is His living “chat, and messaging” with you. He speaks to you through His Word; personalizing it with dialog you hear in your spirit. The Bible is God’s written Word — Him making Himself transparent for you to learn about Him; His love letter to you. Between reading and learning of Him through His Word, and spending time with Him, allowing Him to speak to you; to love you as you wait in His Presence, He will become closer than your dearest friend, more intimate than a lover. Maybe what you want most is someone who will hear your pain, who understands your heart, and will just be with you. God is that kind of friend and more. But just like if you never returned your friend’s letters or responded to them, you would never come to know them, if you never respond, never show God you want to know Him, He will never force you. And unlike us, He is not bound by time and space; so while you want to be with your friends on Facebook, – He IS with you in the presence of the Holy Spirit and more a part of you than your own skin.

Friendship with God, just like with every person, is a journey; music made through give and receive, not an instant fix. It is a relationship developed through mutual communication and dedication to this one most beautiful, most holy bond. He gives all of Himself but it is up to you to give as much of yourself that desires this love and chooses to strive toward this blessed goal. Consider this: how far would you go to know the one friend who could be all to you; how important would that message be to respond to?

He has every characteristic, every attribute you seek in your friendships in this network of people. Isn’t friendship with the Creator, with your Savior, worth pursuing as vehemently as a treasured friendship on Facebook in 2014. Why not make Him, your only New Year’s resolution?
WHAT IF GOD WAS A FRIEND ON FACEBOOK

You can find Joanne on Facebook at: Comfort In The Arms of God Ministries