What's Going On?

7/15/2010 - What’s Going On?

“I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” John 15:15 NIV

Quite often information is power. When it comes to our faith walk, out relationship with God can be strengthened by the simple concept of friendship with Him. It seems so simple to call yourself a friend of God, yet that title carries with it benefits that cannot be measured.

When you think of your relationship with your friends, you may have some with whom you are closer than others. Yet if you call someone a friend, they tend to know things about you that an acquaintance may not know. They may know your middle name or your birthday, or how many siblings you have. They may know where you grew up or how you got the scar over your eyebrow. They might know why you don’t like applesauce or cheese. They know things about you because you share information with them. This is how people get to know you and vice versa.

It is a privilege to be called the friend of God. Jesus said that servants don’t know what the master is doing. When we are traveling through the wilderness of life, sometimes it is helpful to know what the master is doing. You may not like where you are, but you trust that He is leading you and He may even share with you what He is doing in this season. But this relationship does not come to those who merely serve God. This comes to those who are closer to Him. And acquaintance of God does not have these privileges. If you merely do your Christian duty by going to church and volunteering for various causes, this title of friend may not apply to you.

A friend will spend time with you. A friend will share their life with you. A friend will confide in you. A friend will trust you. A friend will introduce you to to others. A friend will make time for you. You miss friends when they are not around. You don’t just take from friends, you also give to them. You don’t only call when you need something, you call just to talk. You can enjoy the silly things in life with a friend. You share the highs and lows of your life with friends. And God calls us His friends if He makes known to us what He is doing. And He reveals Himself all the time. We just have to know how to see Him at work.

Then he says that we are His friends if we obey his commandments. “You are my friends if you do what I command.” John 15:14 NIV. We are His friends if we obey, but He calls us friends if He tells us what we are doing. Revealing what He is doing is entirely God’s choice to make us friends. We have a choice as well. Will we respond to His friendship? Will we allow ourselves to be a friend to God? Let’s not make it a lopsided friendship. Let’s be as great a friend to God as He is to us. Let’s not take His friendship for granted.