Friends Of Jesus

and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, and he was called God’s friend. – James 2.23, CSB

As I read Jehoshaphat’s prayer of desperation before the Lord in 2 Chronicles 20, I stopped and thought about what he said right in the middle. “Are you not our God who drove out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and who gave it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?” (2 Chronicles 20.7, CSB). Abraham was God’s friend. So then I started looking up different places where this same type of thing was spoken of about others in Scripture. 

Moses had this type of close kinship and friendship with God. “The LORD would speak with Moses face to face, just as a man speaks with his friend” (Exodus 33.11, CSB). And Jesus himself referred to his disciples as his friends toward the end of his earthly ministry.

“This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this: to lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants anymore because a servant doesn’t know what his master is doing. I have called you friends because I have made known to you everything I have heard from my Father.” – John 15.12-15, CSB

O, what intimacy many have had with the Lord through the years. But do you see yourself, oh follower of Jesus, as a friend of Jesus? Remember, Jesus laid down his life for his friends. He laid down his life for us. Therefore, we can apply this same truth to our lives. We are friends of Jesus. And while I know that according to Scripture, we are servants of Christ (Romans 1.1; Philippians 1.1; Galatians 1.10; Titus 1.1) and children of God (John 1.12; Romans 8.16; 1 John 3.1), let’s walk in this truth of being friends with Jesus.

Friends know each other. Friends choose each other. They are the ones we call when we want to celebrate a win or when we are broken by failure. They sit with us at dinner, joking and laughing about nonsense. They listen to us rant about current events. They hit a bucket of golf balls at the range. They help plan how to best propose to your girlfriend and then show up to celebrate the engagement. They visit you in the hospital. They show up in the middle of the night when tragedy strikes. They help you with projects around the house. They give you a ride to the airport in the wee hours of the morning. They check in with no agenda except to see how things are going. They help you move into your next house and appreciate the pizza that you can offer them for their work. They will even help you move the king mattress, which feels like wrestling a dead body, all while laughing and sweating with each step down the stairs. They go for long walks along the beach or skydive out of planes together. They make fun of each other and build each other up. They lovingly confront each other when wrong choices are made. They are comfortable sitting in silence or singing at the top of their lungs together. They show up to your wedding and will cry as they share memories at your funeral. 

And we are friends with Jesus. Just let that sink in for a minute.

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