Daily Devotions
A Different Kind of Friendship
Reading for September 14th: Daniel 1-3
Weekly reading for September 13-19: 2 Thess 1-3; 2-3 John
The friends greet you. Greet the friends, each by name.
3 John 1:15
Of all the biblical description of Christians (saints, believers, disciples, etc.) this one is probably the least used and known by us. Why does John use this language to describe us?
I believe it goes back to Jesus. Remember what Jesus said in John 15:14-15? "You are my friends if you do what I command you. 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."
This kind of friendship is different. This friendship is not based on common interest, but on a common Lord. It's based on us keeping the commandments, and thus having a unique knowledge of the Father (the kind of knowledge that a servant wouldn't have of his master). In other words, our closeness to Jesus and the Father defines our relationship with each other. We're not just friends in some kind of casual way. This is an intense, eternal relationship we share with each other because of our faith in Jesus and our love for God.
What a special thing we have when we are surrounded by this kind of friends: friends who will provoke us to love and good works; friends who will help us in our walk with God; friends who will rebuke us when we're sinning and love us back to the right way; and friends who will always be our friends, even into eternity!
Father, thank you for our friends. Most of all, thank you for the friend we have in Jesus!
3 John 1:15
Of all the biblical description of Christians (saints, believers, disciples, etc.) this one is probably the least used and known by us. Why does John use this language to describe us?
I believe it goes back to Jesus. Remember what Jesus said in John 15:14-15? "You are my friends if you do what I command you. 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."
This kind of friendship is different. This friendship is not based on common interest, but on a common Lord. It's based on us keeping the commandments, and thus having a unique knowledge of the Father (the kind of knowledge that a servant wouldn't have of his master). In other words, our closeness to Jesus and the Father defines our relationship with each other. We're not just friends in some kind of casual way. This is an intense, eternal relationship we share with each other because of our faith in Jesus and our love for God.
What a special thing we have when we are surrounded by this kind of friends: friends who will provoke us to love and good works; friends who will help us in our walk with God; friends who will rebuke us when we're sinning and love us back to the right way; and friends who will always be our friends, even into eternity!
Father, thank you for our friends. Most of all, thank you for the friend we have in Jesus!
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