By Lamont H. Fuchs, Ed. D.,
excerpt from Preacher Spurs Christian Faith Publishers, 2022
We are to love our God. And we love with our human ability to love. God loves us, but He loves us with His Godly love that we cannot match. What a friend we have in Jesus. He loves us. Let me remind you of His love for us lest we forget.
John 15:13 says, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”.
John 15:14 continues saying, “Ye are my friends if ye do the things which I command you”.
Proverbs 18:24 says, “He that maketh many friends doeth it to his own destruction, But there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother”.
Who do you suppose that is? What kind of friend sticks closer than a brother? What kind of friend would die for you? What kind of friend would never leave you or forsake you? With a kind of love, only a God could give within a power that only God has. Jesus is love.
Hebrews 13:5 says, “Be ye free from the love of money; content with such things as ye have: for himself hath said, I will in no wise fail thee, neither will I in any wise forsake thee”.
Do you have a good friend? Do you have a friend so close that you would give your life for them? Do you have a friend so close they would give their life for you? It is hard to say what you will do once you must run into a house on fire or a car ready to explode to save the life of a friend.
I have a friend who has already died for me. And He has died for you. Not only did he give us His life so that we might become His friends, but He endured torture no person has ever endured. I am not talking about his beating. I am not talking about the fact he was hung on a cross, nailed through his hands and feet. Others throughout history may have been tortured harder than that.
But I am talking about the fact that Jesus bore and endured the sins of all humanity. And it killed Him. Yes, Jesus endured all your sins and the sins of all humanity to be your friend. Could you ask for a better friend than that? All the rotten things you and I have done? He has paid for them all.
Then miraculously, He did something more. He raised Himself from the dead. He defeated death to show us He is God. Then, after He was crucified and died, laid in a tomb, sealed with a stone, He showed himself alive to His friends. And He promised His Spirit to save us and that He will return to take us with Him so one day we can be with Him, His friend for eternity.
He is asking now. Will you be his friend?
Here is His Invitation – heads down, eyes closed. Do you know Jesus as your personal friend? Do you know Him as your God, Father, or Friend, or do you ‘friend’ Him on Sundays and ‘unfriend’ or ‘snooze’ Him the rest of the week?
Friend Him today. Ask Him to friend you. Ask Him to touch your heart, move your feet, and accept His friendship today. Ask Him to forgive you the sins he paid for. He holds your debt, and as a friend, He will toss that debt away, and all He wants from you is to be His friend.
You see, once He friends you – it is eternal, permanent friendship. He will never leave you or forsake you – His Godly promise. You might fail to be His friend daily, but He will never unfriend you. Accept Him today. For He is good, and He loves with a love only God can love with, for God is Love. It is all the love and friendship you will ever need.
If Jesus was a friend before and you lost contact with Him, don’t you think it might be good to re-establish that relationship and talk to Him again? Do that today.
