True Friendship

In church we sing this chorus, "I Am a Friend of God...He calls me 'friend.'" I sometimes wonder why He is willing to do that. A true friend is someone who is constant and reliable. Do I really qualify? A loyal friend is dependable, and I know I let Him down. An allegiant follower would lay down his life for the Cause. Yet I look for times when I can get away with picking up the trail of the old lifestyle. He wants me to stick out--in a good way, and I try to conform--in a bad way. To be a friend of God, He needs to "be love" through me, and there are people and situations that I balk at allowing Him to love through me. For years, as parents we have nurtured our daughters to trust the Lord and develop a private, personal walk with Him. Now Christa has gone off on an adventure with this Great Love of her life. How do I really react to this? Will I trust my Friend to be constant and reliable to her? Do I believe that she will be dependable to Him? Do I worry that He will let her down? Of course not! We all know that's absurd. But what if He wants her to lay down her life for the Cause? Now that's a very real possibility. In fact, that's what a summer of mission work is--laying down what you could be doing for what you ought to be doing. In many ways, it's practice for the real life, daily relationship of trusting. The stakes could not be any higher when we put God's honor on the line wherever we are today. That true friendship comes when we lay down our life for our Friend (John 15:13, 15).