Superfriend

November 7, 2022

“What a friend we have in Jesus.” That’s a great old hymn, and an amazing concept.

I’ve learned a lot about friendship in the last decade. It’s so different from marriage, or even family. Friendship takes long-term caring, even when needs are not verbalized. It takes careful listening. It takes commitment. Friendship cannot survive without interaction. Friends from long ago can again become friends, with just the slightest renewed communication.

There is trust between friends, and plenty of selfless giving. I remember trying to befriend a homeless man. I thought it was going fine, but soon realized I was becoming nothing more than an ATM to him. He was not willing to not ask for money, even one time. Trust knows that a friend will care, even when not asked. Friendship does not have an agenda: “I’ll love you if you agree with me.”

In John 15:15, Jesus tells his disciples, “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my father I have made known to you.” That’s another aspect of being a friend: No subject is off limits. Nothing said will be used against you. You can’t shock God, but can share anything, ‘bare your soul.’ At your lowest, even when you’ve gotten yourself in a mess, God will not be ashamed to grab your hand.

Friendship can be inconvenient, but God is willing to reach out to us. As the old praise song goes, “Amazing love! How can it be, that you my king would die for me?”

Can I be a friend to others, as Jesus is to me? It’s too high a goal for me to ever reach. I’m willing for God to push me in that direction, though, my friend.