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Friendship With Jesus. Abraham, Moses and John had close relationships with Jesus. They were faithful men, men who spent time with Jesus, men who talked and listened to Him. These men wanted a friendship relationship with God. That is the first important step. That is what you want!
Jesus tells us what the next step is,
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Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends, if you do what I command you. (NASB) John 15:13-14 |
The next step is called obedience, or being faithful to Him in everything we do. This was true of these men. They were faithful to God. Abraham believed God. The book of Hebrews says that Abraham was "faithful" (Heb. 3:5). The apostle John wrote these words, " . . . if you do what I command you." He also wrote these words,
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For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; (NASB) 1 John 5:3
And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. (NASB) 2 John 6 |
All friendships involve a love. Both Jesus and the apostle John remind us that obedience expresses our love for Him and that faithfulness causes us to draw close to Him. The first step is a desire to love Him and be loved by Him. It is a desire to know Him. These desires will then cause us to want to be faithful which means obedience. And as we seek to be faithful to Him, as we spend time talking and listening to Him (reading the Bible and praying), as we confess our sins, we will find that our love for Him will grow more and more.
Conclusion: When we have earthly friends, we want to please them. We want to talk with them and listen to them. We call this conversation. As we spend time with them our relationship grows closer. But it started with a desire to be a friend. Then we had to spend time with them. If we want to be a friend of God, we must do the same thing. Today, we talk with Jesus by praying. We listen to Him by reading the Bible, and we show our faithfulness by being obedient. As we do these things our feelings for Him will grow. |
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