By MEGAN SITES
John 15:12-17 says this, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: 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 servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.This is my command: Love each other.”
This is one of my favorite moments of scripture. Jesus tells us exactly what kind of relationship He is looking for in me. He isn’t looking for servants or slaves to take care of the land He created, or to run around doing mundane tasks for Him because, after all, He is the King of all creation and if this is what He wanted, then by all means this is what He should get. But that is not what He wants. Instead, He says He is looking for friends. People who will love and serve the people He has created.
Jesus is looking for friendship. Friendship is the fruit of relationship. I have a best friend; her name is Amy and we have been best friends for about 10 years now. I absolutely adore her, but what makes her my friend? It’s not all the meals she has cooked for me or the work outs she has completed with me or the errands she has ran for me. None of these things make me closer to her in relationship; they are just check marks off a to-do list. Rather, it is all the hours spent on the phone (because now she lives 100’s of miles away from me), and how she would drop anything for me at any given moment and come running if I needed her. It’s the way she loves my husband and our kiddos (my people), and it is the time, energy and care she has poured into my life over the last 10 years that now bears the fruit of relationship and carries the title of friendship. Because of this friendship, she has access to everything I have. I would give and do anything I could for her. This is what Jesus is inviting us into. Love Him, love His people, bear the fruit of relationship with Him and have access to everything the Father has for Hi
FOR FURTHER THOUGHT Allow this reality to sink in. We are invited to be friends of God. He is looking to us for friendship, not because He needs us but because He wants us! He says that we didn’t choose Him but that He chose us. He wants us! Does this change the way you think about spending time with Him, or how you feel about extending kindness to your neighbor? It does for me. It makes those things not just items to check off a to-do list, but actually and invitation into a deeper relationships, invitations into all that the Father has for me and you. Consider praying today for a closer friendship with God and with others, and ask the Father to show you what you can grow in in order to experience this blessing more richly.
PRAYER God, how incredibly blessed I am that I worship a God who craves relationship with me, who is far more interested in being my friend than making sure He has enough help working the land. You are so kind. Help me to remember these truths and to see the time I get to spend with You as an invitation and not a burden. Help me to extend that powerful friendship to others. Jesus, I love you and it is in Your name I pray, Amen.
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Facebook: Megan Sites
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