John 15:13-15 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. 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.
Friends share family secrets, strategies and sincere love. Genuine love does not intentionally hurt. Among the many things that Jesus said to express His love and intimacy with His disciples, the most profound comfort was when He called them friends.
Those who follow His commandments and do what He says without questions or arguments are the friends of the Risen Saviour. Jesus expressed the ultimate love by laying down His life on our behalf by taking the punishment that we should bear, on Himself. The judgment for our misgivings and transgressions fell on Him. Our reciprocation for such immeasurable love is simple childlike obedience.
As soon as the Lord met the murderer Saul on the road to Damascus and spoke to him with compassion, Saul responded trembling, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” (Acts 9:6b). Saul, who was then baptized as Paul, never looked back. He considered his elite prestigious influence, affluence and opulence as dung. The Apostle Paul was a very wealthy Jew, possessing Roman citizenship, prestigious religious credentials, an elite education, and a respected position among the Pharisees. “For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ” (Philippines 3:8).
Membership into the family of God is free. There is no price for salvation but friendship with the Lord costs you everything. The price for friendship with God would be to relinquish the worldly obsessions, distractions or popularity that separates us from our intimacy with God our Saviour.
Divine Friendship:
- Worship: Worship blooms into an intimate friendship with the Lord.
- Workmanship: The friends of God are His workmanship who represent Him on earth. Fellowship morphs us into His likeness.
- Warship: Friendship with God equips us into a warship with divine ammunition and armory to win over the schemes of the devil and to rewrite the plots of hell.
Forsake everything to enjoy friendship with the Lord.
Prayer: Lord My God, I submit to follow You fervently to be called Your Friend. Amen.
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