Best Friend Forever
A friend of mine gave me a plaque years ago that says, "Anyone who says she doesn't need a girlfriend just hasn't found a good one yet. That's not my problem...I have you. I just can't bear the thought of picking up the phone and not having you on the other end to talk, cry, and visit with. You're my biggest critic, head cheerleader, and favorite sounding board all rolled into one. My life is infinitely more interesting, fun, exciting, peaceful, joyous, and real simply because you're in it. I'm so blessed you are my friend." Katie and I met around 1996 and quickly became good friends. The last two years have been difficult to see each other but she is still one of my best friends. I am so thankful for my friends and I need godly friends! And men need godly friends too. We all need godly friends.
I am not so sure everyone can name a "BFF", or best friend forever. The Good News is that we all have a bff! We have a best friend FOREVER and always! Proverbs 18: 24, "One who has unreliable friends soon comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." Remember the hymn, "What A Friend We Have In Jesus"? I love the first and last verse especially. "What a friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry Everything to God in prayer...... Can we find a friend so faithful, Who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness, Take it to the Lord in prayer."
On the night before His death, Jesus gathered his disciples one last time to prepare them for the days to come. 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." It is an awesome privilege to be called Jesus' servant but now He is saying we are his friend!! What an honor! Think about that. We were made for friendship with God. While a master does not tell the servant things, a best friend is transparent with us and does tells us things. Jesus reveals God's will to us. John 14: 26, "But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you." And when we see the cross we can know that He put Himself there instead of us. John 15: 13, "Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends."
I know some people are saying, but Jesus is our King! That's right. We do not have to choose, He is both! He is big enough to be both - our King and our best friend. We are not minimizing His glory, we are magnifying it. He is our friend through His immeasurable grace! Ephesians 1: 6-7, "to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace. He welcomes us sinners as His friends!
Jesus offers His friendship to us all. How many of us want to be His friend? We cannot be His friend if we do not respond to His offer. Just like we cannot be friends with someone who does not want a relationship with us. If we want to be a true friend of Jesus we must obey Him. John 15: 14, "You are my friends if you do what I command." Jesus is the best friend to many when He is handing out the blessings but what about when He is asking us to move out of our comfort zone and obey? Are we a true friend or a fair weather friend to Jesus?