You Are My Friends

 

John 15:13-15 NLT

There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. 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.

There are many pictures in the bible that describe our relationship to God and with God. Each of these analogies help us approach God and know how to communicate with him. Here are a few examples–and notice how for each of these, a different picture of God will pop into your mind.

God is your creator.

God is your king. 

God is your judge. 

God is your savior, through Jesus Christ. 

God is your father.

As a father of three, this is one of my favorite pictures. My idea of real fatherhood is far from perfect, as is my ability to be the dad I want to be. Isn’t it interesting that our own experiences and knowledge of kings, judges, and fathers help us know how to relate to God, but they also limit and then twist our relationship with God, based on the earthly limited pictures we have?

The picture that has impacted me most in the last year is one that you may have some hang-ups with, as I have.

God is my friend.

God is your friend.

Part of my trouble with this picture is that he is so high, holy, and different from me, and the concept of friendship sounds so equal, so even. This even caused Aristotle to believe it was impossible for humans to be friends with a god, because friends have things in common and can say, “You, too?” And on our own, we are enemies of God. But as Tim Keller points out, God did two great acts of friendship toward us: he became human, drawing near to us in humility, and second, he gave his life for us, so that in our suffering we can look at Jesus and say, “You, too?”

How would your life look if you actually believed that God wanted to be friends with you? That is what I’ve been asking myself. What if Jesus was here, in the flesh, always available to hang out, to work on projects, ministry, and life together, if he wanted to just spend time with you in the backyard? He doesn’t want to be your buddy, but Jesus offers to be your friend.

Trusting this picture, however limited it is in my mind, changes me for the better.

• Time in the Word becomes an opportunity to hear from a dear friend, not a checklist item.
• Time in prayer becomes an opportunity to share my deepest thoughts, fears, and thanks with a good friend, not a recitation of wants to a vending machine.
• Growing in holiness becomes a secondary habit from hanging out with him and being like him, not an impossible struggle to change myself by force of will.
• Hatred of sin (in myself, not just others) and love of good things happens more as my likes become more like my close friend’s, not a guilty secret of my failing.
• Suffering is more tolerable, and I can even find joy there, because Jesus is still my friend, and shares the experience with me.

There are more examples of how our lives would change if we valued and took being friends with God seriously. But here’s the bizarre question. What are we waiting for? Are we hoping for a better friend than God? More faithful, helpful, powerful, available, loving, joyful, encouraging, smart, humble, or wise? Friendship is a positive, fun, enriching experience–and our time with God should be the same–he is for us and is patiently waiting for us to be real friends.