“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” John 15:15.
Heavenly Father, I thank You for giving us a Savior who calls us friends. Please open the eyes of our understanding, that we might be filled with gratitude for such a privilege, and never take it for granted. In the name of Jesus Christ I pray. Amen.
As we begin a new week, and take a fresh look at the life-giving, infallible, word of God, I pray that the glorious riches that lie in His promises will shine with greater brightness than they have before, and will increase our faith in these promises!
It is a very great blessing to have sincere friends. God has blessed me with some. I cherish their sincerity, and graciousness to the very depth of my heart! I ask God to teach me how to be the best friend I can be to them, and I have selected three character traits of a friend, for us to consider.
If we really want to become friends in the true sense of the word, the best example of such a friend is Jesus Christ! Jesus is the Friend, par excellence! He is the very embodiment of the first ingredient, that I believe is necessary, to provide a strong and firm foundation for any friendship:
- Love. “Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end” (John 13:1, emphasis supplied).
Even knowing that they would all abandon Him and flee; that one would deny Him and another would betray Him, He loved them to the end! Oh, what love!
Those who have experienced, the unconditional love of Jesus, know that this is a mighty high goal to be reached. But because Christ has promised that, “we can do all things through [Him, who provides us with the strength],” we press on.
- Faithfulness. “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5).
A friend is someone you can count on at all times, and in every situation. I have “[tasted and seen] that the LORD is good, [and] blessed is the [person] who trusts in Him” (Psalm 34:8). Even in my darkest moment I never felt as if God had failed me. At every step of the way, He was with me, and it was His faithfulness that sustained me. He is the “[F]riend who sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24b, emphasis supplied).
- Forgiveness. “Who is a God like You, Pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:1, 19, emphasis supplied).
Because we are dust. Because “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), we need a friend who “delights in mercy,” One, who after forgiving our sins, will cast them “into the depths of the sea” and remember them no more. The only One who can do all of this, and then some, is Jesus. That is why, the best friend to have is JESUS!