Counting friends

One of the songs in the Muppet Christmas Carol contains the following words (Yes I know I'm in the wrong season but I've been absent from the blogging world for a while so give me a break!)

'Life is like a jouney, who knows when it ends?
Yes and if you need to know the measure of a man
You simply count his friends'

Now this leaves me with a problem as I'm not sure I'm leading any friendship league table. According to facebook I have 166 friends (which seems like an obscenely high number to me) however when compared to others of my friends it appears I don't measure up too well. One of my friends Scott has 620, John has 580 and even a man who describes himself as unsociable has 312! If someone was trying to ascertain the measure of men by friends I'm not sure I'd be measured too well.

However, I guess the question I am left wondering is whether this really is the best way to measure men? Is someone's significance really measured in their number of friends or is it something else. Many people think that their significance is found in the jobs they have, the money they earn, the stuff they possess, the position they hold, the things they have achieved, the abilities they have as well as their popularity. I have found it's very difficult to not judge people on these criteria. It's very difficult not to see the popular person's significance in their popularity or the footballer's significance in his footballing ability. It's difficult to not view the person with a great job differently because of the job. It's difficult not to see the fact that someone is stinking rich as significant. Their are many things which make me think of someone as significant.

However, Hebrews 11 suggests that it is something else which makes someone significant. It is not the money they earn, the things they achieve or even their number of friends. No it is the faith they demonstrate within their lives. So Hebrews 11v6 says 'without faith it is impossible to please him (God)'. So do you see your significance before God is not found in the things which we think make someone significant but rather in the faith you demonstrate. So it doesn't matter if you have loads of friends, loads of money, if you are really nice or even super religious. What matters is whether you have faith in God and the salvation he offers through Jesus' death on the cross. It is then by allowing that faith to impact your life that your life becomes significant even if you only have 166 facebook friends, no money and have never done anything worthy of note!