JESUS made Paul HIS own and HE makes you HIS own too. HE calls you friend, not just a servant, but a friend…….
JOHN 15: 14 “YOU ARE MY FRIENDS IF YOU DO WHAT I COMMAND YOU.”
And so we are a friend of JESUS, treasured and loved and we are to love our friends, neighbors, churches and community in the same way. JESUS said this to HIS disciples:
JOHN 15: 15 “NO LONGER DO I CALL YOU SERVANTS, FOR THE SERVANT DOES NOT KNOW WHAT HIS MASTER IS DOING; BUT I HAVE CALLED YOU FRIENDS, FOR ALL THAT I HAVE HEARD FROM MY FATHER I HAVE MADE KNOWN TO YOU.”
Because JESUS has made us HIS own, HIS friends, HE has revealed HIS good plans for us and a good and lasting hope for the future. The future is bright with HIM!
So, if you say you are a friend to JESUS, are you a true and faithful, loving friend to those around you? I can say at this point in my life, GOD has blessed me with two longtime friends who I have known now for over 35 years. Both I met in Colorado, but we no longer live near one another. When we visit or talk on the phone, it’s like no time has passed and we still share everything and can sense when a text is not sounding right. Then a phone call is in order. We have shared raising our kids, health issues, death, spiritual life and I could go on. They both are the true sisters I never had. We are like family. If you have a friend or friends like this in your life……treasure them! Tell them often that you love and appreciate them and don’t take them for granted.
Because JESUS called HIS disciples friends, we can learn a lot about how to treat one another with honesty, integrity, love and patience.
IN ORDER TO MAKE A FRIEND, YOU HAVE TO BE A FRIEND!
I think some people think, well that is too much trouble. I don’t want to bother with it. But JESUS is all about relationship and HE loves to see HIS children gathered together around a table sharing love and food! Making a new friend could be as easy as inviting someone to coffee and then see where it goes from there. Some of my more recent friendships I have made over the past 10 years have all started over a cup of coffee, either in my home or out somewhere at a coffee shop!
We were never meant to walk this earth alone and the Scriptures tell us much about being a friend JESUS wants us to be. Read this in Proverbs:
PROVERBS 18: 24 “A MAN OF MANY COMPANIONS MAY COME TO RUIN, BUT THERE IS A FRIEND WHO STICKS CLOSER THAN A BROTHER.”
We should carry GODLY wisdom into all of our friendships using JESUS as our example. Maybe today we need to examine ourselves and ask: what kind of friend am I? Am I generous and loving? Faithful and true? Because JESUS had all these qualities and more. So let’s learn from HIM today. And while you are at it, give that friend of yours a call or better yet, invite a new friend out for coffee!
PROVERBS 17: 17 “A FRIEND LOVES AT ALL TIMES, AND A BROTHER IS BORN FOR ADVERSITY.”
