Scripture: John 15:12-17.  J.B. page 1633.

Observation.  Eric lived across from my house on Gardenia Street in Victoria, Texas.  He was a year younger, but we did everything together.  We walked to school, rode bikes, crashed bikes, fought and got into trouble together.  Right before 3^rdgrade I moved several hours away.  I remember riding in the back seat of our station wagon looking out the back for the last time as Eric raced down the sidewalk on his bike.  Friends.  Do you have that type friend?

            Read John 15:12-17.  Jesus looked at His disciples on the night before He dies and He calls them friends.  He had always been their rabbi, teacher.  He had become their Lord.  And now He calls them friend.  Some of them had followed Jesus for three years.  He stated, “Great love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”  And that is exactly what Jesus did the next day.  It was a covenant friendship, not causal.  Not conditional.  But an always-forever type friendship.

Application: Jesus calls us friends if we are obedient believers.  That is the type of relationship He wants with us.  He wants to talk with us face-to-face.  He wants us to share our ups and downs.  He wants to be the one we think about when we wake up and when we go to bed and every moment throughout the day.  He does not want to be an obligation or a memorized prayer or a tradition.  He is our God, who has come to earth to save us from our sins, to call Him friend.

Prayer.  Jesus, “greater love has no one than this!”  You proved your love to me.  Help me to love you and grow more and more in my love for You!