Have you ever considered the fact that the God of the Universe, the Creator of all things wants to be in relationship with you… and that He calls you ‘friend’! It’s true. He has done everything for us, not to ‘buy’ our affection – He is not a sugar daddy – but has and is doing everything that we allow Him to do for/about us, every moment of every day. Personally, I do have a difficult time getting my head around this… not that I doubt or reject it, but I am amazed. Listen to what Jesus says… about us:
“You are my friends if you keep on doing what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you [My] friends, because I have revealed to you everything that I have heard from My Father. You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and I have appointed and placed and purposefully
planted you, so that you would go and bear fruit and keep on bearing, and that your fruit will remain and be lasting, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name [as My representative] He may give to you. This [is what] I command you: that you love and unselfishly seek the best for one another.” [John 15: 14-17]
Yes… the highlights, italics, bold, underlining are purposeful. Sometimes we forget that it was Jesus who does the choosing and He choses us all… it’s just that we don’t always accept the choice. There are over 100 verses that tell us that God wants us all to be saved… among them: 1 Timothy 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9; Matthew 23:37. There’s no doubt.
But those of us who are born again, sometimes we miss the whole of who we become and what’s available for us – to become friends. FRIENDS… can you get your head around that when Jesus made that comment to His disciples? And that it is extended to us as well! Do we even know what this means? Probably only partially. The indisputable fact though is that Jesus has chosen to make us His friend. And look how Jesus defined the word! See all that is available to us as friends. As a wee little aside. If you are His friend then doesn’t this mean that all who are born again have this same opportunity? And doesn’t this mean that this is how we should be treating our brothers and sisters? Not comparing. Not competing. Not condemning.
How does the title of ‘friend’ strike you? How does this make you feel? I believe it is based in the command Jesus gave His disciples
“I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too are to love one another. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you have love and unselfish concern for one another.” [John 13:34-35]
The ‘new’ was always a bit of a puzzlement to me. Throughout Jesus’ ministry He talked about Love. And there are countless verses about Love, not the least of which is Matthew 22: 36-40. So… ‘new’? And then I saw – “…just as I have loved you”. This is the qualifier and provides us with the example/model, the How of the new. We need to look at how Jesus expressed love to know if we are doing the same.
And the final point is – so that we demonstrate that we are His disciples. What greater evidence can we provide to others than to demonstrate love, which is an action word, as our behavior toward others? Our behavior and words affirm and demonstrates how we react to each other, how we define ‘friend’. A friend is there for you in your time of need but also to rejoice when we accomplish our assignment. One of the underlying foundations is trust. Seriously, can you love without trust? A Friend is more than an acquaintance. A Friend speaks truth not patronized dribble. And a Friend is …
