Second Friend Day - Elmer Towns

The early Christians manifested love. Sometimes it is easier to see a Christian's love over
nineteen centuries than it is to look across the street. That's because we see better at a far
distance. Josephus who lived among the early Christians said, "Oh, how they love each other."
William B. Riley pastored First Baptist Church of Minneapolis for 47 years. Toward the
end of his ministry, he sat on a chair on the platform to preach. Once he wept before beginning
his sermon, then stated, "I know I have passed from death unto life because I love you brethren.”
He could not forget 47 years of tears, struggle and victories.
But there are times that Christians should hate. You should never hate people, but the
sins of people. Yet, it is difficult to hate sin without hating the sinner. To put it another way, it
is difficult to hate evolution that denies the Bible without hating the evolutionist. Yet love
teaches you how to draw the line. A mother shows us how to stay on one side of the line. She
spanks her little boy for his naughty act, yet kisses away his tears.
4. You need to forget the "false dreams" of love. The American ideal is for the boy to
get the girl and they live happily ever after. Love is portrayed as a lifelong Disney World. But
that's not the truth. Love is cleaning dirty diapers because life is that way. You do for the baby
what he can't do for himself because you love him.
A mother misunderstood God's love. Her son died of cancer. She complained that God
was mean. "Where was God when my son died?" she cried.
"Right where He was when His Son died," the wise pastor answered, "sitting on His
throne."
God loves everyone. We don't understand why He took the young boy with cancer. We
can't explain why God left the woman lonely. But God sits on His throne and knows "that all
things work together for good to them that love God" (Rom. 8:28).
A "false dream" expects love to be strawberry shortcake. Love does not expect an easy
life. Early disciples expected a hard life, not an easy one. When they followed Jesus, they had
no idea what the cost would be. He had told them to leave father and mother; as a matter of fact,
He said to leave all. Their love led them to endure many trials. But a God of love does not allow
us to sidestep hardships. He is more concerned with our character than our comfort. The Bible
teaches that persecution brings about character. "Tribulation worketh patience." We don't have
men of Job's character because we don't have men afflicted as Job. God still uses the spade of
sorrow to dig the well of joy.
There is a seeming indifference on God's part to the ease of His followers, whereas there
is a consuming drive for relaxation and recreation by those who follow Him today. The Bible
describes God's hall of fame: "Others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover
of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were
slain with the sword; they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted,
tormented ... they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth"
(Heb. 11:36-38). Can we say that God didn't love them because their path was hard? No!