Jesus Wants to Call Us Friends

John 15:14-15, "You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you."

Because Jesus is our Lord and Master, He should call us servants; instead He calls us friends. A friend enjoys spending time with another friend. It is a valued relationship where each one can converse freely and laugh openly. You have learned to trust your friend, and so you confide feelings and dreams, as well as personal failure. Friendship is a choice.

Jesus was on His way to the cross, and He knew that His time on earth with His friends was short. In the upper room, Jesus had taught them about serving. Then, in the vineyard, he talked with them about genuine love -- the kind of love that comes from the Father. He explained that they could use this same love to love one another, and that the result would be a life full of joy.

As the time approached when Jesus Christ was to lay down His life according to the will of the Father, He shared openly with the eleven men He called friends. He told them that He had held nothing back, but that He told them everything that He heard from the Father. Everything.

The clock was ticking, and Jesus was interested in relationships. It tells of His nature that this was a priority to Him. He truly desires an intimate relationship with His disciples, one that is voluntary, not one of compulsion.

James 2:23, "And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, 'Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.' And he was called the friend of God."

Proverbs 18:24, "A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother."

A Christian's heart cannot contain the love that is sure to grow as a result of abiding in God. Our lives will spill over with unexplainable joy as we learn and practice abiding in His presence. He will share with us everything we need to know, and we will experience a continual filling as a result of our friendship with our Lord.

Thank you, Lord, for wanting a relationship with me. I would not know the way if you did not guide me. I love you. Amen.