Verse of the Day - John 15:15

[Jesus says,] "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." ~ John 15:15 (NIV)

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It doesn't take too long in this world to figure out that not everyone is your friend. When you're little, you ask your "friend" to hold your ice cream cone while you go to the bathroom. Come back? No friend, no ice cream cone. When you're a teenager, you share with a "friend" that you like this person, but you swear them to secrecy. At school? Somehow, everyone knows you like so-and-so and yet your "friend" claims innocence.

Friend? Who knew that was another word for backstabber?

Yes, I sound cynical, and no, that's not the story of my life, really. Although, I have been "had" by friends, as you probably have also. Good friends can be hard to come by. Not that you can't find people who are nice and all...it's just that finding people that have your best interests at heart are a rare breed. They might have other peoples' best interest at heart and be good friends with someone else. But you want to find those that are good to and with you. True friendship.

With a true friend you can share the deep things of your heart, to be honest and bare your soul, without risking embarrassment, ridicule or abandonment. Yet, not everyone can be trusted with that kind of openness. And so, because of being burned in the past, some just refuse to let anyone into their life. Better to isolate than risk the pain of a bad friend, right? Like the old saying goes, 'Fool me once--shame on you. Fool me twice--shame on me!'

I believe God created us for friendship, first with Him and then with others. But in our efforts to insulate ourselves from past hurts or perceived rejection, we keep people out, including God. I'm good...I don't need anyone. Funny, I think in Jesus' humanity, He needed His friends, don't you?

He shared Himself with his friends, so they would know Him. I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me. (John 15:15, NLT) He wanted to be known and loved, just as we, deep down, want to be known and loved.

He wanted His friends to remember Him, because He knew He was leaving them and knew how easy 'out of sight, out of mind' really can be. He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me.” (Luke 22:19, NLT) We, too, long to have a lasting impact on our friends, so that they will not forget us through distance or death.

He needed the strength of his inner circle when He struggled with the cup of God's wrath in the Garden of Gethsemane. “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” (Matthew 26:38, NLT) We need to know that we have friends who will hang in there with us when we go through our valleys of the shadow of death...divorce, cancer, grief.

Jesus, in all his humanity, wanted friendship...wanted closeness with people He loved and trusted. He wants that with us today. And for those who have trusted Him to be who He says He is -- God come to earth for our sins -- we are those trusted friends. One day, our friendship with Jesus will be unveiled, and we shall finally see Him...our dearly devoted, loving and faithful Friend, Jesus...face to face...eye to eye...hand to hand...smile to smile!

This Easter, I hope you celebrate your friendship with Jesus Christ -- because He is alive and well!

Then I saw a Lamb that looked as if it had been slaughtered, but it was now standing between the throne and the four living beings and among the twenty-four elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes, which represent the sevenfold Spirit of God that is sent out into every part of the earth. He stepped forward and took the scroll from the right hand of the one sitting on the throne. And when he took the scroll, the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. And they sang a new song with these words:

“You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. And you have caused them to become a Kingdom of priests for our God. And they will reign on the earth.”

Then I looked again, and I heard the voices of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and of the living beings and the elders. And they sang in a mighty chorus:

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered—to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.”

And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They sang:

“Blessing and honor and glory and power belong to the one sitting on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever.”

And the four living beings said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped the Lamb.
~ Revelation 5:6-14 (NLT)

Love,
Joelene