Being a friend of God

On one of my trips I was picked up at the airport by a church leader. It took just a few moments for my driver to start voicing his concerns about his pastor. He gave me a very reasoned history of his relationship to the church and to his pastor. He spoke of the congregations decline, of the many faithful families who had chosen to leave the church, thus attendance was down and money was scarce. He presented himself as a close friend of the pastor, they met weekly. He had purchased a Health Club membership for the pastor so they could work out together, so they could sweat as one, so they could have that relaxed informal time when defenses are low,where reasoned persuasion would find its mark.  He even wanted to take his pastor friend skiing. Then he began to vent about the mistakes his pastor friend had made, and that he had spoken with him about his problems every time they met. He went on to wonder why he couldn’t get closer to the pastor, “ Why won’t he let me into his inner life?” he lamented. I thought I knew the answer, but first I wanted to consult with the pastor himself. The pastor was trying his best to be with the man who courted his most intimate thoughts, but something in his spirit straight -armed the man.  The pastor spoke about a lack of trust, how he wasn’t sure that the man wouldn’t go to his old cronies in town and "spill the beans." He wasn’t sure that the man was on his side. Often people will passionately appeal to you that they are on your side, they are for you, they have your best interests at heart, but in truth, they have an agenda.After listening to the pastor I got back to the frustrated wealthy “church boss.”  I told him there was little chance that he could get close to the pastor. He was some what offended, I told him that he couldn’t buy intimacy through gifts, and no matter how much time they would spend together, the relationship was doomed to failure. He demanded to know why, “Because he will never be able to relax and trust you, because you don’t accept him, he knows your objective is to fix him. You can never be a real friend if the relationship is one person fixing the other. In order to be a good friend of God's, first don't try to fix him, accept what he has done, he has done some things you might not approve of, much you don't understand. He claims to accept you, and since he has already fixed you, relax. You might find him a easy person to be with.