ARE YOU HIS FRIEND?

The disciples had been walking with Jesus for a while and no one knew them better than He did. Jesus knew that they were not perfect and a number of times He had to rebuke them for their unbelief, yet He knew that they loved Him and they had a heart that was willing to obey Him. This is why in our text we see Him telling them that they are His friends if they continue to obey His commands. Jesus goes further to tell them that He no longer considers them His servants but His friends because He has not hidden from them those things that His Father has made known to Him.

 

This tells us that “obedience” will qualify us to be a friend of Jesus. In other words, if we know what He desires of us and we continuously do it, we will qualify to be His friend and He will begin to share with us those secret things that can only be shared between friends. God wants those who are not already His friends to consider striking up a friendship with Him. No one who does so can ever regret it because there is no friend like Jesus. In fact the Bible describes Him as a friend that sticks closer than a brother. (Proverbs 18:24).

 

We have a few examples of people in the Bible that God considered His friend. We see one such friend in the Book of Genesis, Abraham. The Bible tells us that the wicked and sinful ways of Sodom and Gomorrah had become so grievous and God’s wrath had been kindled against those two cities yet He did not want to destroy them without first telling Abraham. The Bible says, “And the Lord said, shall I hide from Abraham [My friend and servant] what I am going to do.” (Genesis 18:17). God had tested Abraham by asking him to give up his only son; Isaac and He saw how Abraham obeyed Him without question. Abraham had passed “God’s friendship test” and God considered His friendship with Abraham so important that He would not destroy the cities until He had spoken to him.

 

Another man that the Bible refers to as a friend of God is Moses. The Bible says “And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend” (Exodus 33:11). In other words, God considered Moses His friend so He spoke to him as one would speak to his friend. What a privilege it must be to have God speak to you like His friend. But it is not impossible because He has given us the key, “OBEDIENCE”. The more we get to know Him through His Word and through spending time with Him in prayer, the more we will get to know His heart. When we know His heart, it will not be difficult to obey Him.

 

God wants to be your friend. Do you want to be His?

 

Prayer: Thank you for the privilege of knowing you. We want to know you even more. Thank you for your open invitation to us to become your friend. Just as you called Abraham and Moses your friend, we too want to be your friend. Thank you that you have not set a huge criterion for us, you simply call us to “obedience”. We ask for your help in this area. Give us such a willing heart that we will be ready to obey you at all times without question. We thank you and we praise you in Jesus Mighty Name. Amen and Amen.