Relationships // You've Got a Friend in Yahweh

What is a friend?
Someone you trust, someone you can go to when in need?
According to my phone, a friend is a person who is not an enemy or opponent and they are someone on equal standing with you. This basically means that the friend is no better or no worse than you are.

John 15: 15 - 17:

"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 learnt from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit - fruit that will last - and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other."

Those of you familiar with the Gospel of John will know that this is Jesus talking. How great is this.

Jesus chose you.

He could have chosen someone taller, someone better looking, someone smarter but he didn't. He chose you! (And I don't know about you but I'd rather be a friend of Jesus than a few inches taller or a few grades smarter...)

He chose you, so that...

• You may 'bear fruit'.
• Whatever you ask for in the name of the Father he will give to you.

To 'bear fruit' is a strange phrase (bear fruit) but what does it really mean?

Basically it means to gain or to increase. And since we're talking about the bible and being Holy, Christ - like people this probably doesn't mean financial gain or financial increase (although, this in turn doesn't mean we all have to be poor and live of cold tin beans from Lidl). 

In regards to this verse to bear fruit could mean a wide range of things but it will most probably include spiritual gain or spiritual increase. (Which is better than money both in the long and short term anyway).

Whatever you ask for in the name of the Father he will give to you is a tricky one to try and explain. If you ask God for a bike or an iPad, you probably wont find yourself looking at Apple's latest product floating down from the sky right in front of your eyes. 

However having said that, God will provide all the things necessary for you to live, be happy and of course tell others about God. Another important thing to mention is that God lives in an eternal state, there is no 'present' for God - He is everywhere at every time (crazy, right). So if God has put you in a situation that you don't think is maybe fair or right for you remember: God could see the outcome of whatever it is your going through before it even started.

Going back to the verse we started with, where Jesus says 'I no longer call you servants', that word servant originally was slaves. That's a BIG jump. We've gone from slave to friend. Why? Well, it's not because of anything we've done. As Jesus describes in these verses it's because Jesus has made known to us (slaves) everything he learnt from God. And Jesus says because a slave doesn't know his master's business, we are now friends of Jesus. 

That's all that Christianity is, a friendship.
And that's flipping awesome.

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