My Friends (F1)

Scripture: John 15:9-17 (Click Link For Scripture) 13 There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. (John 15:13-15 NLT) When Jesus began his ministry it was just him, on his own, starting out to save the world. A few of John’s disciples heard John call him the “Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world” and they went to check him out. Then later in Galilee he called people from tax collecting and fishing to follow him and become his disciples. As he invested in them and as the relationship grew, the time came when he called some of them his apostles, his messengers to carry his Good News to places he would never go. When others deserted him, they stayed with him, and on that final night, the Lord’s Supper night, he called them his friends. They had been his followers, his messengers, and now they were his friends. At this point, it was about relationship. He had been with them, they had been with him, they all had been with each other, and they were friends. (I think I want to be Jesus’ friend, too!) For the next few days, I’m going to be writing about Friends and Friendship. I’m not sure how the series will develop or where it will take us, but I know it’s important. I’m an introvert and as an introvert I do better with a few close friendships than with a lot of casual acquaintanceships. I know that developing a friendship takes a serious investment of time and presence. I know that life is better with friends than without. I know that I want to live my life in relationship with some other imperfect people who want to be in relationship with me. I want to have friends and the relationship I want to have with them is friendship. We’ll be looking at lots of scriptures about Friends and Friendships. There are some great friendship stories in the Bible. I have some stories and experiences and some insights gained over a few decades of living that I will share with you. It’s my hope that as we focus on friendship for a few days, we’ll all learn some things about having good friends and being good friends. Prayer:

Father, You called Abraham your friend and Jesus called his disciples his friends. May we learn to be good friends of Jesus and friends of each other. By your grace! Amen.