For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. - Romans 5:7-9 NKJV.
 

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. - 1 John 5:13 NKJV.
 

Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. - John 5:24 NKJV.
 

If you have been a member on any of the social networks like Facebook for very long you have probably been deleted from someone’s friend’s list. Your friend looked at your profile, your photo, your information, and they clicked on the delete button removing you from their friend’s list. You were just not good enough for them. Kind of makes you feel bad for a little while. Of course, it’s not like they are your next door neighbor (I hope not!), or your friend you have known since grade school. But still it hurts a little knowing you did not measure up in someone’s eyes.

In the world it matters what you look like, what you do, and how you present yourself. I have had prospective friends ask me to change my profile photo. Ouch! That hurts. It’s like asking me to change my face, and that is kind of hard to do. Some of us are just not as photogenic as others. I have had others to put conditions on our relationship as in; if I do not message them or email them frequently enough then they will delete me. Since they do not know me personally many feel free to really say what they feel. In other words, sometimes they let you have it with both barrels. To be honest I have deleted some people from my friend’s list too. Usually I have deleted them because of something obscene that they have said or posted on my profile. I have also not accepted some people as friends for the same reasons.

Thankfully, Jesus has different standards than we do. What if Jesus had the same standards as us? If He did, He might say something like this: “God demonstrated His love for those who were not too ugly, for those who behaved appropriately, for those who never say any bad words, and for those who never abuse alcohol or illegal substances.” He might also add: “My friends who are heavy ladened you have come to me and my yoke is light, but I do require that you be in constant contact with me (1 Thessalonians 5:17), and never ever break any of my commandments. I will give you a trial run for about three weeks, but if you can’t cut it, I will delete you as a friend and there is no way that I will ever add you back.”

Compare our defriending standards with the defriending standards of God: “Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. WHO SHALL SEPARATE US FROM THE LOVE OF CHRIST? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:34-39).”

Aren’t you glad that Jesus does not have the same requirements for His friend’s list as we do? I know that I am!