Beautiful Word Devotional #152

“I no longer call you servants. . . . Instead, I have called you friends.”

John 15:15

Talking with the disciples shortly before his death, Jesus uttered the startling words of today’s Scripture. Prior to this, people were rarely called a friend of God. Only patriarchs like Moses and Abraham, or kings like David, or prophets like Jeremiah interacted with God as a friend would.

But since the moment he breathed life into Adam, God’s desire was to be in relationship with us. Before Adam and Eve sinned, the Father spent time with them, talking and sharing life as they walked through the garden. Sin, however, shattered that friendship. So when Jesus called the disciples his friends, he was ushering in a new way of relating to God.

And you are a beneficiary: you are God’s friend. He wants to interact with you about your day. He cares about the things that bother you—and he wants you to be bothered by the things like inequality, poverty, and injustice that bother him. Your friendship with God will bring personal joy as well as a mission: you can represent your Friend’s heart in this dying world.

Lord, thank you for the privilege of being your friend, amen.