Teen Bonics 3-False (aka "Fake") Friends

Teen-bonics Definition: Fake (or False) Friend: Someone who claims to be a friend with someone they've only met once and might not even particularly (i.e. the chronic Facebook friend-adder) like or add friends of friends on facebook or myspace just to boost their numbers or to stay in the "hater" gossip loop on said "friend."

Also the types of people who freely throw around the word 'love' or become affectionate too early in a friendship.

 

Example: "Oh my gosh, we just met five minutes ago and I'm inwardly hating on your outfit and I'm buggin' on your man, but I love you!!"

 

A fake or false friend can also be someone that might even be in your inner circle and can't stand you. That's right, I said it. You may have folks around you that have nothing nice to say about you behind your back. The minute you walk out the door, the tongues start wagging, and not in a nice way.

 

Proverbs 18:24 (NIV) says, "A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother."

 

Interesting huh?

 

Most of us think "the more the merrier." The bigger my number of friends, the better. After all, isn't more always the best?

 

Not necessarily.

 

There are only a few people, outside of my immediate family, that I know are true friends. The kind of people that would be there no matter what. Just a few. The rest are probably acquaintances. Don't get me wrong, my acquaintances are people that I'm happy to see when I see them, I'm sure that many would pray for me if I asked, and we all want good for each other. But as far as the people that would sit by my bedside and pray for me when I'm in the hospital and offer to feed my cat (if I had one) for example, are few and far between.

 

So back to the whole idea of false friends. Have you ever had someone in your life that outwardly seemed cool, but something inside your gut told you that something wasn't right? Maybe you couldn't quite put your finger on it, but you just didn't completely trust them? If you're like me, you probably even fought yourself on it.

Here's an example: "She seems so nice. Maybe I'm just being paranoid. It's just then when I told her my good news, she acted kind of funny. She didn't seem to happy for me. The other weird thing is that she seems to almost hope that I have personal problems. Even when I don't have anything going on, she digs until nothing becomes something and I start to question my own happiness. Odd..."

Don't second guess yourself. I have to admit, I still struggle with this even today. Occasionally, a wolf in sheep's clothing will sneak into my life.

Matthew 7:15 (NIV) says, "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves."

Here's a suggestion. Pray and ask, "God if this person isn't from You, move them along. Set me free." What's cool about that is that you don't have to get up in this person's grill and tell them to hit the road. All you have to do is ask God to handle it. And He will. He'll probably even bring in new friends to fill in the gap that you've created by asking Him to move to the wolf out of your way.