My Friend Jesus

The other week in Bible study, someone asked, “What would you say to Jesus if He sat down on a bus beside you and you recognized Him?” Now, for this exercise, there’s not really a “wrong” or “right” answer, but some answers are definitely “better” than others. I sat quietly and thought for a little bit while everyone else gave some interesting answers: “I’d ask to see the nail scars”, “I’d be speechless”, “I’d ask about...” The whole time that everyone was giving answers, I was sitting there thinking, and the only thing I could think was, “What would be of ANY significance upon actually meeting Christ? Nothing you could say would really be ‘enough’. At that point, no matter what you said or did, actually MEETING Him would be the coolest thing that could ever have happened to you in your life.” Suddenly, it occurred to me, I HAVE met Him.

I met Him at the foot of the cross where He died for my sins. Romans 5:8 says, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” I fell in love with Him; and He has loved me from before I was conceived. In Jeremiah 1:5, God told Jeremiah, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee”.

So why then, should (or would) meeting Him face-to-face be any different? I should be talking to Him every day. I should be studying the things he taught. I should be asking Him for help with things in my life. I should be doing the things that He asks me to do. If He is supposed to already be my dearest friend, why should I be speechless to see Him? Obviously it would be incredible, but there’s no reason I shouldn’t know Him well enough that I wouldn’t know what to say to Him.

And then, as I continued to think about how that Jesus should already be my dearest friend, I realized that, even now, I treat my friendship with Christ differently than I treat my friendships with others, even my very closest earthly friends. When opportunity presents itself, I brag on some of my closest friends here on earth for their redeeming qualities. I would gladly take a bullet for my closest friends (yes, getting shot would suck, and I’d hope it’d hit me in the foot and not the face, but I’d still take it anyway). How often do we not just MISS opportunities to brag about Jesus, but FAIL to do so when we feel like we should? How often do I hide Jesus in my life from the world?

When we fail to do the will of our Father, we’re letting our best friend down. We’re trampling on the confidence our best friend has placed in us to perform a task. We wouldn’t dream of not feeding our friend’s dog while he’s out of town for a week, but we’ll fail time and again to do the simple things that God asks us to do; we even fail the things that are very specifically mentioned in the Bible, not just the little things we feel in our hearts we should do.

I know that I definitely need to work hard at being a better friend to Jesus, and I challenge you to examine your friendship with Him as well. Almost all of us know the song “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”, but how many of us know “I’ll Be a Friend to Jesus”? Can we truly not just say that Jesus is our friend, but that we are His friend as well?

They tried my Lord and Master,
With no one to defend;
Within the halls of Pilate
He stood without a friend.

Chorus:
I’ll be a friend to Jesus,
My life for Him I’ll spend
I’ll be a friend to Jesus,
Until my years shall end.

The world may turn against Him,
I’ll love Him to the end,
And while on earth I’m living,
My Lord shall have a friend.

I’ll do what He may bid me;
I’ll go where He may send;
I’ll try each flying moment
To prove that I’m His friend.

To all who need a Savior,
My Friend I’ll recommend;
Because He brought salvation,
Is why I am His friend.