Because He Makes Friends Everywhere

“…but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” John 15:15

Relationships have a kind of mathematics to them. Like ... the measure of the depth of a friendship is directly proportional to the level of mutual trust. Sounds a little nerdy, but I think you know what I mean.

A few years back, I wanted to do something special for my wife on our anniversary. A friend of ours overheard me processing some options for the big day. “Here, I think she’ll enjoy this,” he said as he wound something around in the palm of his hand. Freeing it from its metal ring, he extended a key in my direction. “I know you like road trips,” he offered with a smile.

Under some wildly divine circumstances (which is a story for another day), my friend had come to possess the car of his dreams – a 1980 Porsche 911 Targa. She was sleek in gloss black, stylish with her removable hardtop roof. One might expect a possessive approach to an object of such high esteem, but instead my friend cheerfully surrendered the key. 

Wow! 
He trusted me.

Sandie and I DO like road trips, and long weekends away. We often have a friend housesit for us. We grant access to our home and its contents, our truck, and our son – I mean, our Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. (Such a sweet boy.) Another example of trust within a friendship.

As a pastor, I have individuals and couples come to me for counseling. In that confidential environment, they grant access to their secret information, private thoughts, and guarded emotions. Therapeutic ministry simply cannot happen without a level of trust. I prove my trustworthiness by no breach of confidentiality and I open myself up to my counselees. I become more than a clinician to them. I become their friend.

Jesus came to befriend us. He came to grant us access, to toss us the keys, to pull back the curtain of heaven and entrust the Word and the Spirit of God to us. Read His story. See how he made so many diverse friends. Study the context of the first century Palestinian world under Roman rule. Then, understand the profound implications of Jesus befriending Zealots and tax collectors, Jewish women, Samaritan women, and women of ill repute, uneducated Galileans and elite Pharisees, strapping centurions and sickly lepers.

That’s why I follow Jesus. Because I know that He does not discriminate. Nothing about me or about you disqualifies us from His generous love or His revelation of truth and life. He has daily bread and living water for all. He calls us "friend."

And what a marvelous diversity of friendships we can develop through friendship with Christ. In humility and amazement, I consider my friendships with young and old, men and women, speakers of an array of languages, living in China and Chile, Germany, Jordan and Turkey. We are connected in heart and spirit. We trust each other, because we are all friends of Jesus.

“All that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” “I call you friends.”

He gives us access to higher levels of trust and deeper friendship with God.
That’s why I follow Jesus.