It’s About Relationship, My BFF

I want you to take a minute and think about your best friend.

They could be your mate or someone you have known for years, even since childhood. You can see them in your mind’s eye. You know what colors they will be wearing because you know the colors they don’t like. You know their hobbies and where to find them in their leisure hours. You know what types of things they like to watch on television and what kind of books they read. You certainly know the names of their children and probably their birth dates.

I make it my goal to know my friends favorite desserts because I like to make it for them on their birthdays or when they come to visit. I also like to know how they take their coffee. I want to have it ready for them when they get up and I like to make them feel at home. (Except my dear friend makes her own coffee because she does too much with it and says she doesn’t want to bother me with the details.)

Now stop and think about your friend again. How did this relationship begin? Were they someone you worked with, someone from school or maybe someone from a social gathering you attended, possibly from church? Wherever you met, the relationship only continued to develop because of your investment of time and effort.

The same holds true in our relationship with the Lord.

I was thinking this morning about the different names I use when telling you about God. Let’s see there’s God, Lord, Father, Friend. Each name has meaning and is tied to relationship. Some folks talk about God and you can just hear in their voice that they think He’s aloof, far off and unconcerned about them personally. You hear others and you can tell that they feel God is harsh, judgmental, condemning and cruel.

But then there are those who speak His name and their tone softens, a smile comes to their lips and you know they are talking about their “Dad”, their closest friend, their deepest love! Oh yes – that’s relationship!

That’s the kind of relationship that comes from spending time talking to Him and listening in return. That’s the kind of relationship that comes from knowing His promises and believing that every word He speaks is true. It’s impossible to have a deep and lasting friendship with someone if you don’t think you can trust their words or believe what they say. That’s why my favorite verse in the Bible is

“God is not a man; he will not lie. God is not a human being; his decisions will not change. If he says he will do something, then he will do it. If he makes a promise, then he will do what he promised.” Numbers 23:19 ERV

Jesus knew how important relationship was. He trusted his Father with his life. Jesus had God’s word that when he died his Father would raise him to life again in three days. Jesus had God’s word that when he prayed for the sick they would be healed; when he spoke to the storm it would be calmed; when he prayed over the loaves and fishes it would be enough to feed the crowd. We, too, have God’s word.

Look at the prayer Jesus prayed for us. He was in the Garden and knew his death was eminent. One verse tells us that Jesus was in such anguish that he sweat drops of blood. But in that hour he wasn’t praying for himself alone. He talked to His father about their relationship and then Jesus talked to our Father about us. Yes, he was praying for the disciples that were with him and had been following him but then he added you and me to that prayer too.

“Holy Father, I am no longer in the world. I am coming to you, but my followers are still in the world. So keep them safe by the power of the name that you have given me. Then they will be one with each other, just as you and I are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them safe by the power you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost, except the one who had to be lost. This happened so that what the Scriptures say would come true.

13 I am on my way to you. But I say these things while I am still in the world, so that my followers will have the same complete joy that I do. 14 I have told them your message. But the people of this world hate them, because they don’t belong to this world, just as I don’t.

15 Father, I don’t ask you to take my followers out of the world, but keep them safe from the evil one. 16 They don’t belong to this world, and neither do I. 17 Your word is the truth. So let this truth make them completely yours. 18 I am sending them into the world, just as you sent me. 19 I have given myself completely for their sake, so that they may belong completely to the truth.

20 I am not praying just for these followers. I am also praying for everyone else who will have faith because of what my followers will say about me. 21 I want all of them to be one with each other, just as I am one with you and you are one with me. I also want them to be one with us. Then the people of this world will believe that you sent me.

22 I have honored my followers in the same way that you honored me, in order that they may be one with each other, just as we are one. 23 I am one with them, and you are one with me, so that they may become completely one. Then this world’s people will know that you sent me. They will know that you love my followers as much as you love me.” John 17:11-23 CEV

Now this is the relationship that my Father wants with me and with you, “they will know that you love my followers as much as you love me”. WOW!!

Let me ask you this. Is this a relationship you feel you can invest your time and effort into? It has certainly been worth my time, that I know.

So tomorrow when you get up and have your coffee or tea why not ask the Father how he takes his? I’ve found He likes his the same as I do mine.

May your day be blessed beyond measure today as you realize how much God really loves you!