Friendship With Jesus


Devotion 4 - Friendship with Jesus

 

Many of us are familiar with the much-loved hymn, “What A Friend We Have in Jesus”, written by Joseph Scriven (1820-1886). But not many know the pain, heartache and loneliness he had gone through before he wrote this hymn. His bride-to-be drowned the evening before their wedding, and later in his life, a second fiancée died. Through all these, Christ’s friendship sustained him.

 

The Bible refers to both Abraham (2Chro.20:7; Isa.41:8; Jas.2:23) and Moses (Exo.33:11) as friends of God. The question we need to consider and ask ourselves is, “Would Jesus call me His friend?” Does friendship with Jesus come automatically through our salvation? What Does It Mean To Be Friends With Jesus?

 

Jn.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.”

 

This verse doesn’t mean that friendship with Jesus will make us Jesus’ friends, as though our obedience can “earn” us this privilege. We need to receive His salvation by Grace before we can be His friend. However, this verse describes what Jesus’ friends do; His true friends are those who obey Him. He isn’t friends with those who say they believe in Him but yet live in disobedience or self-will.

By the marvellous grace of God, Jesus is always our friend; and the question we need to honestly ask ourselves is, “Are we His friend?”. If we are His friend, He shares the mystery of heaven with us.

 

Psa.25:14 – “The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant”.

 

The secret of the Lord means that which cannot be known unless the Lord reveals it. It is not attainable without supernatural revelation. Hence, those who fear the Lord are admitted to the intimacy of friendship with Him. They are permitted to come into His presence and partake of His counsels, and to have free access to Him; or, as it is more commonly expressed, have "fellowship" with Him.


On the other hand, the scripture clearly warns us that even as children of God, we can be enemies of God if we continue to love the world.

 

Jas.4:4 - “Adulterers & adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

 

Adulterer & Adulteress – one who has a covenant relationship with one party, and yet involved with another. Hence, when God used the words adulterer and adulteress on His children, He was referring to spiritual adultery; when we pursue or seek the pleasure and gain of the world after our union and allegiance to Christ.

1 Jn.2:15 – “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

 

Just as abundant life only comes with the fear of the Lord, intimacy and friendship with Jesus is also enjoyed only by those who fear the Lord.



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