12 My
command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay
down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You
are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I
no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s
business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned
from my Father I have made known to you. John 15:12-12
Thought:
After walking with Jesus for close to three years, what kind of a relationship
do you think each disciple had with him? Looking ahead, after walking these
next forty-five days with Jesus to the cross, what kind of relationship will
you have with him? Are you ready for some changes? During those thirty-three
years, Jesus was God present on earth. Jesus announced that after he ascended,
God would still be with us—in the person of the Holy Spirit. He told us he
would be part of the very fabric of our lives.
Do
you live your life as if God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are your friend? Are
you on a person-to-person basis with God in your daily life? Do you address God
with a name that somebody else has given to you, or is God, Jesus, and the Holy
Spirit so real and vital in your daily life that you’re on a first name basis
with God in your relationship—and have a name only you know about and use to
communicate with God?
Think
of some names that Jesus was given along the way. He’s been called the Alpha,
the Omega, and the Good Shepherd. He’s been called the Son of God, the Healer, and
the Son of Jesse. The list goes on, but what Jesus wanted with those twelve
disciples, he wants the same with us today—he wants to be on a first name basis
with every one of his followers—on a day and night basis—he wants to be with us
through the thick and the thin. Jesus’ commitment for the rest of time is to be
a living, caring, loving, supporting presence in the life of every one who is a
believer.
Have
you ever allowed yourself to think that the Spirit of God wants to be your
friend? Best friends care about each other, talk to each other whenever
possible, and support each other in good and bad times. Is God, Jesus, and the
Holy Spirit your best friend? Or do you reserve all thought about God, Jesus,
and the Holy Spirit for when you go to church? If your relationship with God is
“sanctuary driven” then you’re missing out on the greatest blessing God ever
intended for those who are believers and followers—namely, to be your best friend.
As
you walk towards Jerusalem, you are challenged by a living, loving God to
become a better friend, to probe your relationship with the living
Christ-Spirit within you, and to wrestle with yourself and God for a new name
that is only yours, genuinely yours, authentically yours! By the end of the
journey, may your relationship with the living Christ be something you never
thought possible!
Prayer:
Jesus, through your Spirit, become a friend like I’ve never known before. Amen.
Questions:
1.
Why
do you call God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit by whatever names you do?
2.
What
are the most important parts of your faith experience?
