Friends ...

Tuesday, Nov 24, 2015. What is your relationship to God? Perhaps you have none, you might answer: there is no god! Or you think there is a god, but you do not know him. Or you know something about God, but you do not think you have a relationship to him. Let us have a look into the New Testament today, and talk about relationships.

Religion and Relationship …

Humans have been following religion ever since. There are many theories about why mankind is so religious. Some think it is replacing missing knowledge, others have thought to identify religion as a suppression tool. Christians see in religion the longing of the human heart to get into a relationship with the creator, with the eternal father. We are made to live with him, he has created us that way. And humans will always feel the need or desire to find God. That is expressed in various religions.

But God, the creator, the true and only eternal God, wants to relate to us. He wants us to know him, to be able to come to him. Yes, we are free to choose. We are free to reject this relationship, find our own way and live our life as we want. The consequence is a path without him. On the other hand, we can search him, we can ask for him, and when we do this in a sincere way, we will find him - or in other words, he will find us.

Jesus had a special relationship to his disciples, to people of faith. Let us listen to a little part from the gospel of John:

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. 16 You 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. 17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another. (John 15, 15-17)

Relationship and Friendship …

When you first hear it, it sounds strange: friendship with God? Friendship with Jesus? That was something for his disciples. That were his words when he was still there with his people. What does it mean today?

Jesus has told his disciples to go on. He has sent the Holy Spirit. He has continued to call disciples, he built the church, the community of believers. Until today, we can experience this community, where ever people come together in faith in Christ, they find his spirit, and they also find this relationship and friendship, which Jesus talks about. In this friendship he is still the son of God, the lamb of God, the door, the way, the life, the truth. But we are taken into a fantastic relationship, full of truth and love and grace.

Faith is a great adventure. Faith is fantastic - it is not something abstract, but a life which has found the Lord. He is there with us, and we can live with him. His spirit fills our life - even though there are enough points where we still need to grow and to develop further. When you want to find true friendship, find the Lord, come to Jesus! (RWEP) ... more texts