What a Friend by David Jeremiah

Friday, September 22

What a Friend 

No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends. 
John 15:15 

Recommended Reading Proverbs 18:24

You’ve seen them—lists of reasons why dogs are “man’s best friend.” Dogs love unconditionally, are always there for you, are always glad to see you, are ready to forgive, love going places with you, will protect you from danger, and on and on. We would be fortunate to have a human friend who is as faithful as a canine friend!

Actually, we do have such a friend—and this friend adds a trait of which not even our four-legged friends can boast. That friend is Jesus and He understands everything we go through in our life. Jesus can “sympathize with our weaknesses” since He was “in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). Besides faithfulness, empathy may be a friend’s most desirable trait. The concept of friendship was clear in the Old Testament—it was a covenant idea, as in Abraham being friends with God (2 Chronicles 20:7). When Jesus instituted the New Covenant with His disciples, He told them that He was now their friend—loyal, sacrificial, loving, and empathetic.

Human friends may disappoint us, but Jesus never will. He is a friend that “sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24). 

What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear! 
Joseph Scriven