What a Friend we Have in Jesus

     One of my favorite hymns is “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”.  Those words echo in my mind so often when the day has been a tough one:  “What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear: What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!  O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.”  No truer words were ever penned than by Joseph Medlicott Scriven in 1855 and they are still very true today. Of course, these words, indicating friendship with Christ, are biblical.

     In John 15:12-17 Jesus tells his disciples:  “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just

as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you.  No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.  You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.  This I command you, that you love one another.”  What a beautiful picture of friendship is found in these verses that we should aspire to as believers.

     First, Jesus tells us to love one another because that is the essence of friendship.  He demonstrated for us His total commitment by laying down His life that our sins could be forgiven. Likewise, Jesus desires that His disciples, no matter how different we all are from one another, love each other. We should be willing to sacrifice to help each other because He knows we would face the challenges of walking in this fallen world.  Now in some cases, there may be things we don’t like about someone, but we are commanded to love one another despite that.  After all, we are all a work in progress under the guidance of the blessed Holy Spirit that lives within us. Certainly, no one is perfect yet. So if we would be a friend of Jesus, we must keep this command.

     Secondly, Jesus, through His Word, has made known to us how the Father desires for us to live.  After all, Jesus clearly said in His high priestly prayer “Sanctify them by the truth; Your Word is truth” (John 17:17).  How sad that we often neglect to read the Bible on a daily, regular basis.  It contains our instructions for living.  Jesus, who calls us friends, has shared with us all we need for life and godliness and it has been recorded by the men who walked with Him so that we might know His will for our lives.  In any friendship, there is good communication between two parties.  This is how we learn to love one another.  However, we are missing out on our end of the friendship when we neglect to learn and grow both by reading the Bible and praying it as well.  I often find great comfort when I pray the Psalms.  They are written for our edification and instruction.

     Of course, prayer is one of the best ways to deepen that friendship with God. Talking to Him each day and even throughout our activities gives us greater peace and closeness to our Lord.  Friends that don’t talk to each other honestly aren’t going to have a very good relationship now are they?  The hymn I quoted above reminds us to take our burdens, our griefs and heartaches as well as our praise to God.  He is always willing to listen and as one person reminded me: “He is the best wireless connection we can have.”  

     Finally, we are to bear fruit in our lives as friends of Jesus.  What are those fruits?  “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23a).  These fruits are evident in all we do whether it is work, relationships with others and especially in our family.  This proves that we belong to the Lord and walk in His way.  We are to even extend our love to our enemies according to the Word of God.  That is not an easy task but it is the very thing that Jesus did for us: “But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).  Jesus is the friend who laid down his life for his brothers and sisters while we were still His enemies lost in sin.  He desires that we do the same….go the extra mile….reach out in love even to our enemies.

     Without the Holy Spirit living in us as believers in Christ, we cannot keep this command to love others and to lay aside “self” desires.  We will fall short.  However, Christ in us makes it possible to live out the love for others…even our enemies.  Let us work on developing that friendship with the Lord made possible by the blood sacrifice of Christ through study of His Word, prayer, and bearing fruit as He commanded that we may hear Him say one day: “Well done, thou good and faithful servant…” (Matt. 25:23).  Selah!