Messy Beautiful Friendship By Christine HooverSample

Day Three

I Call You Friend

Scripture: John 15:15

When I see a picture on social media of two people I know hanging out, my reflexive thought is, Why wasn’t I invited? Even if I barely know those people. Even if they are hanging out clear across the country. Even if in reality I’m not all that interested in actually hanging out. I just want to be chosen and loved. We all do. 

We can’t rely on instinct, blindly seeking our destination of friendship based on feel. We mustn’t look for God to frame friendship in the way we design; we must look to him and discover the map he’s already given. Otherwise we will chase dreams and feelings-driven experiences and shun the realities that true, God-given community requires. 

Friendship began with God extending his hand toward humanity. In the beginning, he sought out the company of the people he’d created, walking with them in the garden. Even after sin entered the world he selected people to be his friends: Abraham and Moses. These patriarchs had unique privileges of friendship—God spoke to Moses in private conversation and gave Abraham the title of his friend forever.

Like ripples extending outward on a pond, God grew his circle of friendship ever wider. Through Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection, he extended the offer of friendship to all people, offering reconciliation between God and humanity to anyone who would come to him by faith.

Friendship is almost too trivial a word for what Christ offers, for we are certainly not his peers. However, the word friend does convey the delight of the Father in those he’s befriended, the companionship available to us in Christ, the moment-to-moment help we have in the Holy Spirit, and the enjoyment we can find in God even in the mundane routines of life. Through Jesus, there is nothing left between God and us that hinders our intimacy as friends. If ever we sought a wish-dream, this is it—and, thankfully, profound intimacy with the greatest Friend is not a dream but a sure reality. 

Fellowship with God leads to friendship with others. Friendship is a gift from our Father, and we’re right to give it and receive it with joy. 

Have you ever considered that God wants to be friends with you? How do you respond to that idea?