John 15:15 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.
“True friends are never apart, maybe in distance but never in heart.” – Helen Keller
Jesus calls us His friends. The rudimentary reason for calling us His friends is to share secrets. Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he reveals his secret unto his servants the prophets (Amos 3:7). The Old Testament prophets were servants but we the New Testament saints are God’s friends! The mark of authentic friendship is the confidence to confide secrets and the acid test to friendship is trust and truth.
Our friendship with the Lord must be developed overtime. Our sincerity is tested with our priorities. The secret of the LORD is for those who fear Him, And He will make them know His covenant (Psalm 25:14). Simple example of developing trust is to keep our promise. If we tell a friend that we will meet them on a certain day at an appointed time we must be there. If not, trust will be broken. Similarly, when we tell the Lord we will meet Him in prayer at a certain time every day we must be faithful to our appointment. If we miss our appointment or dismiss the alarm we would make Jesus wait for us. If we ignore the phone call, text or email of a friend the relationship will fail. Likewise, God’s Word is His ‘letter’ to us. If we have no inclination to read the Bible regularly and methodically we will never understand His heart. Those who ignore the importance of reading the Word and praying can never become His best friends.
Our relationship with our spouse, children, parents, friends, colleagues or associates will have a meaningful impact only when we become the best friends of Jesus.
Jesus calls us friends:
1. Blame: Jesus our best friend will never blame us even if we find ourselves in the mess of our own mistakes. He says, ‘give all the ashes of the shattered dreams and broken heart and I will embellish it with beauty’. Even good friends would blame us for a wrong decision or silly mistake but Jesus our dear friend will never blame us.
2. Shame: Jesus the kindhearted friend will never shame us or revisit our past mistakes. Jesus never shamed Peter for his betrayal three times, while He was tortured to death, after His resurrection. Jesus neither shamed nor reprimanded him before the other disciples. Such is the love of our dear friend Jesus. He will neither stigmatize us nor put us to shame.
3. Name: Jesus, our dear friend gives us His name to replace the stigma and shame that we bear. On the resurrection morning Jesus stood on the shore and called out to a bunch of culpable cowards who did not even show up at the cross, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” (John 21:5b). He gives us the green card to be addressed as the friends of the King of the Universe.
There is no other friend like Jesus.
John 15:14 You are my friends if you do what I command.
Prayer: Jesus my Saviour and my Friend, help me to develop closeness and confidence that you may share your secrets with me. Amen
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