I am one of the most loyal, loving friends one can have. But, finding friendships that fit into the very narrow red-dot center of the dart-board of friendships is a very difficult and a very rare occurrence. It takes TIME and takes a PROACTIVE mindset and heart. Most of the guys in that center for me stood on my left side when I got married as my groomsmen back in 1999. Since then, I have added maybe two men to that red-dot list. True friendship for me has to go through the very narrow sift of discernment. Discernment is also a "spiritual gift "as laid out in Scripture (1 Corinthians 12:10). While every born-again believer has a certain amount of discernment, there are certain believers who have the spiritual gift of discerning spirits-that is, the God given ability to distinguish between the TRUTH of the WORD and the deceptive doctrines propagated by demons. This discernment does NOT involve mystical, extra-biblical revelations or a voice from God. Rather, the spiritually discerning are so familiar with the Word of God that they almost instantly recognize what is contrary to it. They use the Word of God to "test the spirits" to see which line up with God and which is in opposition to Him.
This includes deceptive people who fail to speak the truth or who are are not being authentic at that moment or as a non-authentic person in whole. I know some people for MANY years who fall into this category. They by my estimation have been found wanting, but I maintain those friendships at a distance (on the outer rings of the board) because I do NOT ENTRUST myself to them. This is biblical.
In the Book of John chapter 2, we find many who believe in His name. John's purpose in recording Jesus' miracles was for people to believe and have eternal life (20:30-31). Many have concluded that though the text says these people believed, they did not have truth faith. Inasmuch as their faith was only based on Christ's miracles (alone), they say it was not saving faith. Furthermore, they note that Christ did not commit Himself to them (v.24). And this is the focus of my entry this new day.
The word "COMMIT" is the same Greek word translated "believe" in v.23. There is a play on words here. These individuals trusted Jesus, but Jesus (wisely) did not entrust Himself to them. Nicodemus is an illustration for that fact and John ties these comments and the story of Nicodemus together. He says Christ "knew what was in man" (Gk. Anthropos 2:25). And then adds, "there was a man (Gk. Anthropos) of the Pharisees name Nicodemus" (3:1). He, like Joseph of Arimathea was a secret disciple (19:38, 39). Thus, the Lord did not commit Himself to him like He committed Himself to others (like He did the apostles vs. 5:15).
THE BOTTOM LINE
We need to ask ourselves how TRUSTWORTHY we are (Luke 16:1-13). Christ may be using the principle of readiness for receiving truth. In (2:25), In the Greek text "He" is emphatic. without being told by others, Jesus knew the hearts of people. He reads people like people read billboards, another indication of His deity. in the OT God alone was said to know the hearts of all people (1 Kings 8:39)
"24 But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people 25 and needed no one to bear witness about man, for he himself knew what was in man." (John 2:24-25 ESV)
IN CONCLUSION
My model for trusting others comes right out of the Bible, through the life and ways of Jesus. Jesus gave us the PERFECT model for using discernment to choose our closest friends, or those in our very inner circular of friends. While I am one of the most loyal, loving friends one can have, I am no push over. I see everything and choose to take a certain percentage of hits and loss in an effort to see who is truly biblically authentic, giving, selfless, and authentic in Christ. The more authentic in Christ, the more true they are. I can discern this almost instantly when I first get to know a person. For others, I give it time. But if the truth is not made evident fairly quickly, it's almost always lacking the right stuff to make it into the dead-narrow center of friendship with me. From there, it takes more TIME to develop the friendship. I'm not special, but I trust a lot of people an in effort to find the true, tried and trusted in friendships in life. I pray that you will use the same discernment in your life when selecting your friends.