Psalm 119:63 – Companion

I’m a companion to all who fear you,
and to those who keep your precepts.

My thoughts today took me onto the subject of companionship and friendship. Who are your friends? Why are you friends with various people?

In scripture we have a tension between two views of the relationship between God’s people and those around them. You can see these in the contrast between the books of Ruth, Jonah, and Esther on the one hand and Nehemiah/Ezra/Daniel on the other.

The first reflect the value of connections with foreigners, as when Esther enters the court of the king without revealing her Jewish identity, Jonah is sent to reach out to Israel’s enemies with God’s message, and Ruth becomes an ancestor of King David. Ezra and Nehemiah both wrestle with accommodation between the returned Jewish exiles and people of the surrounding nations. Daniel makes a public embrace of his Jewish identity throughout his life.

In the New Testament we have the embrace of gentile believers into the church and an evangelistic message that was constantly in contact with unbelievers, but then in Revelation we have a repeated call for separation, for God’s people to come out from among those who are doing evil.

We like to have a clear mandate. Either we’re friendly with everyone or we’re separate. Make it easy. But what we actually have is a variety of responses to a variety of circumstances.

I think every parent faces something similar. A parent is concerned if their child gets in with bad companions. On the other hand, they are also joyful when that same child is a leader, helping others in their age group make better choices. If your child is influencing someone for the right, they may be dealing with someone who was also inclined to worse choices, and thus was someone you might be hoping they’d avoid.

This is actually one of my favorite subjects, our identity and our mission. Both elements are generally involved in our lives. We can be someone who always gets along, but does so by not having any real identity. Nobody can really dislike such a person because there really isn’t anything there to dislike. Or to like, for that matter.

Such a person can always be out in the world, connected with anyone, staying out of conflict. But who are they? Does anyone know? Do they actually have any influence?

On the other hand, a person can have an extreme identity. This can involve such intense views, so regularly expressed that nobody can doubt who that person is. They may also be separated from others, either by the choice to only associate with those who are in agreement with their many opinions, or by the choice to live separately. There are Christian groups, for example, who live in separate compounds or communities with association with outsiders strictly limited.

Having strong opinions or a clear identity does not have to be combined with isolation. One can be connected and have firm convictions.. It often depends on how one chooses to express those views. One can also be a companion of those who do good things without being out of contact with those whose views and actions are more questionable.

This requires firm convictions, including the conviction that one should be connection with others, that one should be able to exchange ideas and have influence. In fact, I would suggest that these two can work together quite well. I believe in dialog as the primary way of having influence in the world of ideas. By this I mean making your communications always be an exchange, not a monologue. For such an exchange to take place, you can’t give up identity, otherwise you have nothing to give in the exchange.

So your being a companion of some doesn’t mean you have to be the enemy of others. And your companionship with God doesn’t mean you have to neglect others who may disagree with you in one way or another. In fact, the better your companionship with God, the better your capability to meet others comfortably. Having that identity as God’s companion, you are free to treat all others as also God’s creation, worthy of respectful, but content-filled and robust exchange.

What can you do today to make yourself more comfortable with your own identity so that you can carry out your mission to others who are, like you, God’s creation? As you do so, is there someone God would have you befriend, for the benefit of both?

I’m listing here some books that I publish that relate to comments I’ve made above. Note that some of these books are varied in their own mission and identify. That may help you adjust your own!

(Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)