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.

John 15:5 CSB

Have you ever had a phrase in the Bible that just sticks with you?

Like, no matter how long ago you heard it, even if you only heard it once in a Bible lesson or sermon, it hit you so deeply that you won’t ever forget it?

I have, and today I want to share one of them with you:

“Abraham was called a friend of God.”

The original scripture this phrase is grounded in is James 2:23 which reads:

“And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend.”

I remember hearing that as a young woman, and, for me, it was the first time that God had been presented to me as someone other than a righteous and terrible judge who could and would strike me down if I wasn’t good. Now, I think it’s necessary to say that I grew up in lovely churches with well-intentioned preachers and Sunday school teachers, and I don’t feel I was harmed theologically in any way, but I definitely did not gain a complete picture of God until I was in my late teens and early 20s.

So, back to that moment when I heard that Abraham was a friend of God.

I remember just being really amazed as the pastor spoke about God and Abraham and shared a highlight reel, if you will, of Abraham’s walk with God.

• Abraham answered God’s call to leave his homeland and go “to a land I will show you” without doubt (Genesis 12:1), but he did not always make the best decisions, lying in Egypt about Sarah being his sister instead of his wife and asking Sarah to lie too (landing him, Sarah, and the Pharoah in a spot of trouble).
• When God told Abraham he would have a son with Sarah and father a nation, Abraham believed God, but as he got older with no child, Abraham tried to work around God’s promise of having a son with Sarah by taking Sarah’s suggestion to have a child with her handmaid Hagar instead (Genesis 16).
• God did not recognize Abraham’s son with Hagar (Ishmael) as Abraham’s heir, and, while God took care of Ishmael as He promised Hagar He would, Ishmael fathered a nation that was constantly at strife with the Hebrew nation created from Abraham’s son with Sarah (Isaac).

So, much like some other folks we know in the Bible (David comes to mind and Moses), Abraham’s walk with God was not always perfect; he did not always make righteous decisions, and yet, James 2:23 tells us that Abraham’s faith was accounted to him as righteousness and he was called a friend of God.

Flash forward several thousand years to you and me today. We don’t always make the best decisions. We say and think and do things that are far from righteous sometimes. We doubt God sometimes. We try to make God’s promises come true in our own time or in our own way.

AND YET…

through His precious Son Jesus, God calls us His friends!

Oh dear heart, I don’t know about you, but the truth that God is my friend just humbles me to my core. If I could fall on my face and type at the same time, I would be on my face this very moment just thinking about it!

As I think on the truth that God calls me His friend, I must also consider what it means to be someone’s friend. I know that God is an amazing friend; He gave His only Son to die on the cross so that I could be reunited with Him and live with Him one day in Heaven (John 3:16). You really can’t get a better friend than that. Plus, I could write another complete series just on how good of a friend God is (loves us, provides for us, defends us…). He’s just SO GOOD!

But what about me? Am I a good friend to God?

Am I willing to give as much for Him as He has given for me? Do I have anything to offer Him that He doesn’t already have and have way better and a million times over? I love Him, but how can I show Him? How could I ever hope to be a good friend?

Whew, I could spin my wheels right into a state of depression if I think too hard about that – so – instead, let’s look at what God says is a good friend:

• Jesus answered, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” – John 14:23 CSB
•  “The one who has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father. I also will love him and will reveal myself to him.” – John 14:21 CSB

And there we have it, to be a good friend to God, we keep His word, and we follow His commands.

And beloved, our friend God is so good that He has written them all down for us (2 Timothy 3:16-17)!

And He has given us Holy Spirit to understand and apply them (John 14:26)!

Oh, that I may one day stand before God and hear Him say to me, “Welcome home, My friend!” What a glorious day that will be!

I’m far from perfect, but I’m committed to follow Him, to obey His words, to keep His commands and in this way, like Father Abraham of old, I am God’s friend!

I pray you will commit to do the same and that you too will one day hear, “Welcome home, My friend!”

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