He Calls Me Friend

‎Saturday, ‎June ‎5, ‎2021

Good Morning, Lord

Verse of the Da

y: 1 Thessalonians 5:11

Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.

Memory of the month:  Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be  satisfied.

Today's reading: 2 CHRONICLES 23-24 JOHN 15

He Calls Me Friend

When my youngest son passed, my wife and I were shattered and traveled in God's bubble of grace that allows you to maintain His dignity and not worry about the form that grieving takes. My wife's brother suggested early on that we have the words, "He called me friend" on my son's gravestone.

I have looked at that many times since and thought about it. Today, I read in John 15 the words of Jesus:

15 "I don’t call you servants any longer; servants don’t know what the master is doing, but I have told you everything the Father has said to Me. I call you friends. 16 You did not choose Me. I chose you, and I orchestrated all of this so that you would be sent out and bear great and perpetual fruit. As you do this, anything you ask the Father in My name will be done. 17 This is My command to you: love one another."

 We are to be transformed into the image of God, Romans 8:29, by God's will. If we follow our Lord as we should each day, that transformation happens a little at a time. He said, "I call you friends" and "Love one another".

We talk often about how many friends we have-that if a man has more friends than he has fingers, he is blessed. If we are transformed into the image of Christ we will call many friends. If we did not choose Jesus at first and we are His friends, then should we not choose friends with every encounter? Should we not love them even if they don't love us?

Yes and Yes. We should not choose friends based on our own weak judgement. We should choose friends as Jesus chose us.

Romans 5:8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Should we not choose friends based on the love of God and not our own capacity to love them? Of course, we should. Jesus said to love one another.

To love someone who cannot stand the sight of you is hard at first-really hard. But the more we consider God's will, the less apt we are to judge and simply accept them. When we are not chained to pre-judgement or presuppositions, we can meet someone with the acceptance that Christ lived. Yes, Jesus called sin, sin but He also said, "He who is without sin, cast the first stone".(John 8:7)

Every day for 80 or so days I would go in and pray for a notorious, very powerful outlaw who was a hospital patient who had been almost killed in an accident. I would pray in his ear and tell him about Jesus everyday as the ventilator breathed for him and kept his body working. One day, still on the machine, he awoke. I went in and saw his eyes open and gently spoke and told him if he did not want me to keep praying over him I would stop. He indicated his desire for me to continue. He actually got well enough to go home.

He still remains an outlaw to this day. But I remember the first time I ran into Him in an aisle at the grocery store. There he was-a very large and imposing character in his motorcycle club colors. He saw me and in a very loud voice said, "Preacher!"-and as I extended my hand he brushed it aside to 'bear-hug' me and laugh out loud. It wasn't till all this was over that I noticed people watching. Two grown men-one an obvious outlaw-the other identified as a preacher, complete with tie and slacks hugging like long lost family. We were friends and still are. I haven't seen him in years but he still tells people I am his 'preacher'. People say, "Is that true?

"I say no, "I am his friend". I call him friend. I am blessed to call an outlaw my friend.

We can all have such blessings in our lives if we drop all the human stuff and put on Jesus and choose friends whether they choose us or not.

If a person you meet on the street today should pass away in a week, could that person have said of you, "He called me friend"? "She called me friend."

I am not saying every outlaw you choose to love will not hate you or love you. That does not matter. What matters is that you choose to love without reservation...

...because He loves us...

Father in Heaven,

Your love is greater than all my stuff-forgive me for judging before remembering to love. Have mercy on me.

Loving and wonderful God who calls me friend!

In the name of Christ Jesus,

Amen