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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Jesus // The Boy in The Temple

The book of Luke is the only place in the Gospels where we get a little glimpse of what the early years of Jesus' life were like. Everywhere else we don't see what Jesus gets up to for the first 30 years of his life.
In Luke 2:41-52 Mary, Joseph and a twelve year old Jesus go to Jerusalem for the Passover feast and then, when it finishes, Mary and Joseph leave without Jesus - because they think he is with them - and they take three whole days to find him again.

I assume that anyone who reads this will have been 12 years old, is twelve years old, or will be twelve years old very soon. What were you doing at the age of 12?
Playing computer games?
Watching TV?
Playing with your friends?
Waiting to finally become a teenager?

I think I can safely say probably no other twelve year old has spent 3 whole days straight at their nearest temple or chapel listening and asking questions about God.

Something that really struck me when I read this the first time was that Jesus had to learn. These verses don't say that Jesus was teaching the other people, he was being taught. He even asked them questions!

When Mary and Joseph finally find Jesus sitting in the temple learning his mother says "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you." To this Jesus replies "Why were you searching for me? Didn't you know I'd be in my Fathers House?"

Notice that Jesus is quick to make a comparison between his earthly and Heavenly Father. Mary says "Your Father and I have been searching for you" and Jesus says "Didn't you know I'd be in my Fathers house?"
From an early age Jesus realised, just like we should realise, he had an earthly and Heavenly Father.

Another thing that struck me was that these are the first words of Jesus ever recorded in the Gospels.

"Why were you searching for me?"

Why are you here? Why are you reading this blog post? Why are you searching for Jesus?

Are you searching for Jesus? 

The last thing I'll mention, and it's something that when I worked out I just sat back in awe. Everything in the Bible points in some way to Jesus and the cross and Resurrection. 

It took Mary and Joseph 3 days to find Jesus. Jesus, as a twelve year old boy was lost for 3 days. 33 years later Jesus died and 3 days after that he came back to life!

Jesus saw the importance of asking questions about God and his faith from the very young age of 12, if you have any questions you would like to ask us please feel free to email us at christianunion.blog@gmail.com. 

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