Dear People Who Keep Company With God,
Just before Jesus was crucified He spoke to His disciples about friendship, what is required to be a friend of God and the benefits of being His friend (John 15:14-15). When I look back at my life and how I have approached friendship with God it has mostly been how it benefits me. It is sure that we will always need God’s help and there is nothing wrong in seeking Him to help, bless and enlarge our lives. However, I do not think that is the best way to approach developing a friendship with God. I asked the Lord to show me how to be a friend and he reminded me of a friend I once had.
I met my friend in orientation on the first day of a new job in the engineer world. He and I immediately struck up a conversation as we discovered we were the two selected out of one hundred and fifty applicants who had applied for the two positions open within the company. We were assigned to the same project and our workstations were side by side. For the next 12 years we were close friends. We ate lunch together weekly and visited each other in our homes. We both advanced in the company until we reached a bottleneck. The only place left to advance was our boss’s job and one day, my close friend became my boss.
I knew this could be a problem and I valued my friendship too much to allow any awkwardness to develop in our relationship. So I took the initiative and told him that I understood and respected his position over me and I would never expect to be treated with favoritism or receive any special benefits because we were friends. While at work he was my superior and I would treat him as such and not as a friend. We continued our weekly lunches and our friendship until the day I left the company to go into the ministry.
What I believe the Lord was showing me in reminding me of my friend is there is an order that has been established and when we honor the Lord by submitting to His order, then friendship with God can become a reality in our lives. Paul the Apostle gave us this order when he said, “the God to whom I belong and whom I serve” Acts 27:23. We should never think that we are so familiar and close to God that we forget who He is and who we are. We must always remember we are purchased and redeemed by the precious blood of Christ and never take that lightly or dishonor that fact (1 Peter 1:19).The great Baptist preacher, Adrian Rogers said it like this, “Don’t forget who you are and whose you are.”
Jesus told us to begin our prayers by honoring the Father, “Hallowed be your name” Matt. 6:9. This is the order of life that God has ordained for all of us. Although I have little real understanding on what the fear of the Lord is, I do believe it is has more to do with honoring Him and submitting to His order than being afraid of God.
Abraham was the first person the Bible records as being a friend of God (Isa. 41:8). He understood and honored God as the creator and Lord and God revealed His intentions and plans of what He was about to do in the earth (Gen. 18:17). So there are benefits in friendship with God. Although I did not assume upon my friend I did receive favoritism and benefits because of our friendship. If God is your friend you are going to get favoritism and benefits.
Jesus demonstrated this type of friendship relationship with the Father (John 5:19-20). He only did what the Father was doing, that is honoring God as His servant. Jesus said the Father loves as a friend the Son, and consequently will show Him what He is doing, that is how God shows His friendship to us. He is inviting us, just as He did His disciples, into a friendship relationship and He truly is a friend with benefits.
Many Blessings, BW