Wednesday, May 04, 2011

Are You God's Friend?

Men of the Bible Series - If he had a Facebook account, would you be on God's friend list?


James 2:23 And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” He was even called the friend of God

Isaiah 41:8  But you, Israel, are my servant. You're Jacob, my first choice, descendants of my good friend Abraham.

Proverbs 18:24  There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Have you ever thought about what it would take to be God's friend? I mean really his friend, not just a close acquaintance, but somebody that is really intimate? Usually we try to do nice things for the people that we want to gain as a friend but Abraham became God's friend completely out of the blue, there wasn't anything that Abraham had done to deserve the riches that God would bestow on him.

In fact Abraham blew it from time to time just like we do, yet in the long list of Bible saints he alone is spoken of as "the father of the faithful" and as "the friend of God" His obedience and his faith in the promises that were given to him was proven greater than his failures.

Just like our human friends that we try to please by being nice to them and doing things for them, God expects us to do good things for him. Not as a way of earning his favor but because we already have his favor, we cannot do anything to earn his love, our motivation to do good is because he has already loved us even when we were his enemies.

John 15:14  You are my friends if you do what I command

I want to show my love and appreciation for God by living his way. He is the creator of a better way of living and the best way that I can prove that I am a friend of God is by living everyday according to his commands.

Thank you Lord for making a way for me to become your friend, as the song says:
Who am I that You are mindful of me
That You hear me when I call
Is it true that You are thinking of me
How You love me it's amazing 
I want to live each day faithful to your plan for my life.

You might like to read: Men of the Bible blog series.