Jesus Our Friend

     As I was reading 2 Peter 1:2-11 this morning, the passage really struck home.  Look at these verses carefully: (start with verses 2-4) "Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."
     What blessed me so was that I know that Jesus Christ isn't some far away deity or cosmic buddy.  He is real, living and with me day by day.  Nothing was more evident to me then at my mother's funeral  twelve years ago.  I never, in myself, would have had the internal strength and ability to speak at her service without the Lord giving to me "all things which pertain to life and godliness."  We are overcomers because we are now partakers in His divine nature.  How thankful for that we should all be!
     The verses which follow speak of the progression of growth to which Peter says we must apply ourselves diligently.  We are to add to our faith, virtue...to our virtue, knowledge, to our knowledge, self-control, to self-control perseverance and to perseverance, godliness; to godliness brotherly kindness and to brotherly kindness, love.  Verses 8-9 read:  "For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, for he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins."  Peter goes on to say that if we do these things we won't stumble.  This is a blessed promise from the Word that we can count on.
     Like any relationship, walking with Jesus takes effort.  Why do we think we can casually read the Word or go to church and then, expect an intimate relationship with our Savior especially at times of crisis?  We need to apply ourselves diligently to developing our friendship with Christ.  When we know Him as a friend, we can stand and speak at a funeral, pray by a sick bed in faith or witness to a friend.
     If we want a fruitful Christian life and one that doesn't trip over the temptations of life, then, we need to apply ourselves to building our relationship with Jesus Christ our Lord, our God and our Savior!  He called us "friend" therefore we need to live like we believe this.  Selah!

I welcome your thoughts and insights as always.