Jesus said:
“No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:15)
This TfTD is another in a series of thoughts that are not original with me but I share it because it focusses on an item that I think may be important to many of us: namely, “friend”. Here’s the quote from Charlene Li’s book on Open Leadership.
“There is a difference between a friend and a fan,” she explained. “Fans have a smaller sense of commitment, smaller levels of interest. There is a continuum of loyalty whereby fans stand at one end and friends at the other. Influence occurs across the continuum but it is more certain and lasting on the friends’ end.”5
The easiest way to prove Li’s point is to go online and try to buy a Facebook friend. It can’t be done. Companies galore will sell you Facebook fans, and they can assure you of lots of Twitter followers, but leave it to social media to shine a bright light on the great truth that no true friend can be bought.”
I think it is true that fans have a smaller sense of commitment. In each individual relationship in our lives, only we can answer the question, “Am I a friend of ___________, or am I his\her friend.”
Honestly, there are some people that I worked unsuccessfully to move them from the fan category to the friend category but they died before that could happen. Of course, there is the other section of the discussion where I was actually a friend to them but they remained only a fan to me, but that’s okay because I realize that it is not always about me being the center of the universe, but about God’s will: this, even though reciprocity is preferable.
Are you a friend or a fan? https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KEXQkrllGbA
Life Step Ministries 