What could be a greater privilege than to have Jesus call us His friend? If I told you that the Queen was my friend, you would probably snicker. And rightly so. But if the Queen stated that, “Anne Lotz is my friend,” it would be impressive. It would indicate a relationship based on personal knowledge that she publicly affirmed.
Jesus did more than say you and I could call Him our friend. He promises He will call us His friends! Now that’s impressive! That’s a privileged position!
We love others
who meet our needs,
whom we get along with,
who make us feel good,
who do things for us,
whom we like.
In essence, our first concern is for our own well-being and having our own needs met, and we love others in proportion to the extent they fulfill those purposes. Our second concern is that others respond positively to our overtures; if they don’t, we refuse to continue to love them. But Jesus outlined a radically different kind of love – a love that puts the needs and well-being of others before our own to the extent we would sacrifice our time, our energy, our money, and our thoughts in order to demonstrate it. We are to demonstrate it to others whom we may not like or with whom we may be incompatible or who respond negatively or who may never do anything for us in return! Now that’s radical!
The longing of God’s heart, if it can be expressed as such, is to be known, loved, glorified, and enjoyed by His creation. Although in His plural nature God has ultimate fellowship, love, and harmony within the Trinity, He also desired fellowship and friendship with Adam and Eve.
But early in their lives Adam and Eve made one choice that broke their relationship with God and cost them their happiness at the present and their destiny for the future, devastating their family for every generation to come. This devastation was inevitable because life is made up of relationships with God, with others, and with ourselves, and the choice to sin through disobedience destroyed all three relationships. Sin destroys our relationship with God through guiltiness. It destroys our relationship with others through lovelessness. It destroys our relationship with ourselves through meaninglessness. What sin is worth such destructive consequences?
