Our son had the privilege and challenge of being part of a minority group when he went to high school, where white students numbered less than 30 percent. He, however, had made very good black friends. One day he was being harassed by one of the members of the other group. He simply said, “Do you know Kevin is my friend?” That ended it. Kevin was a large athletic black student, and a friend of our son. It’s good to have a friend in high places.
John 15:12-17
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 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. 16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
Jesus calls his disciples friends. As such he had fully disclosed the Father’s will to them. There is no need for blind “because I said so” obedience. He had called them to love one another, pray with confidence and bear lasting fruit. That was and is the agenda for disciples of Jesus. Nothing is hidden; there is no ulterior motive.
We have a friend in Jesus. He hears and answers our prayers. He gives our lives meaning and purpose. He works in our lives to produce lasting fruit. There is no hidden agenda with him: He has come that we may have life to the full. That is a life of discipleship as his eternal friend.
David Bahn - Reflections 
Leave a comment