Unlike Facebook, real friendships don’t come with a “snooze” option …

Whoever came up with the idea of a “snooze” button for alarm clocks was a genius!

Don’t you love that button?!

After being rudely awakened by the loud clanging of an alarm, you can hit a button and “snooze” a little longer before a second alarm awakes you at a time when you really must get up or you’ll be late.

Social media giant, Facebook, has plagiarized the concept of the “snooze” button by adding the option of “snoozing” your friends on Facebook. Tired of seeing a friend’s posts in your timeline? Choose the “snooze” option and you won’t see their posts for the next 30 days.

What a bad idea!

First, it feeds our immaturity. You might find yourself becoming angry, emotional, or otherwise unsettled by what a friend is posting. The healthy response to that isn’t to “snooze” them for a month. For your own maturity’s sake, you need to step back and identify why you’re so bothered by their posts, and find a more mature way to work through that. Just putting them on “snooze” means in 30 days you’ll have the same problem minus any personal growth in addressing why you’re troubled by them.

Second, the idea of a “snooze” option for friends only reinforces a very negative way we tend to deal with issues and/or differences with our friends — that of ignoring them. Often the problem is with ourselves, wanting others to think the way we do, feel the way we feel, and act the way we think they should. That’s a selfish and immature attitude within us that we need to see and correct, otherwise it will be a problem in our interactions with others. Sometimes our friends do hurt us in some way; in that case, it’s important we don’t “snooze” the issue but address it with them directly so that it can be resolved. Leaving it unresolved keeps it alive, allows it to fester, and will likely turn it into something harmful to your relationship.

Third, it’s not a biblical way to treat a friend. The Bible has much to say regarding friendship, but let me give a scripture that towers above the others:

“A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity,” Proverbs 17:17.

When we feed the idea of “snoozing” friends, we’re likely fostering something selfish in our relationship with them. But in real friendships, “… a friend loves at all times.”

That doesn’t mean there are never times where we don’t step back to gather our thoughts, or first sort our emotions, or pray before we speak, but we don’t just “ignore” a friend until they sound and act just the way we want them to. A friend loves at all times!

Why such a focus on love in our friendships?

The Apostle Peter gives us a good answer for that: “Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins.”

Love provides us the the capacity to have enduring relationships with other human beings. Without love as a foundational component to our friendships, every relationship we have could fail us. That’s because every person we’ll ever have a friendship with is imperfect; their lives are entirely flawed by sin.

And so are ours.

How, then, can we have hope for any rich, mutually satisfying, enduring friendships?

Because a friend loves at all times, and love covers a multitude of sins.

Feeling frustrated toward a friend? Love them more instead of “snoozing” them.

Scotty