Friendship with God
From the very beginning, God has sought a close relationship with us. By creating us in his image and after his likeness he gave us the similarities necessary for a friendship. All good friends share common interests and feelings and it is no different with God. We have so many of his characteristics that we can think as he thinks and feel as he feels. Though he is infinitely greater in every respect, we can still empathize with him since our feelings and reasoning are the same. As he shares his plans, goals, and hopes with us (in his Word) and we share ours with him (through prayer), we walk together in fellowship. God made us “a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor, made to have dominion over the works of Your hands,” and God put all things under his feet” (Ps. 8:5-6). God prepared us to have a close and fulfilling relationship; one we all hope to fully reestablish when we get to heaven.
It is no longer possible to know the relationship Adam and Eve had with God. All Genesis makes clear is that sin changed it. Soon after they sinned, “they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day” “Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden” (Gen. 3:7). There was clearly a sense of estrangement in their hearts toward God.
So our image and likeness is now marred. We no longer share all God’s feelings. In the folly of our youth we opened doors into lusts and sin that cause us to see some clearly identified sins very different than God. Dishonesty, sexual lust, gossip or vengeance seen through the emotions created by fleshly lust leads us to see them very differently. While God sees all things through the eyes of unselfish love, we have changed and now see the things we lust only through a lens of selfishness.
So there is now a chasm. When God’s every thought is focused on what is best for others but our gratifications make us willing to harm others, how can a friendship thrive? If we seek to walk with God, we have to remove these hindrances. We must listen carefully to God’s instructions and realize they are the lens of unselfish agape-love. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” (Mt 22:37-40). Thus agape-love is the key to friendship and a close walk with God. Since “God be true and every man a liar” (Rom. 3:4), any conflict or doubt is our problem, not his. “What does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” (Mic. 6:8)?
We all know selfish attitudes poison any friendship. Why would it be different with God? He is never selfish (God is Love). Anything he asks us to do is always in our best interest. This has always been God’s plea. “Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever” (Deut 5:29).
A true friend seeks to accommodate the needs of his friend. God has always done this for us. But the only person God ever called a friend was “Abraham My friend” (Isa. 41:8). Abraham was God’s friend because he respected, trusted and treated him as God. Abraham used every opportunity to be unselfish. Every time God asked him to do something, whether he thought it was in his best interests or not, he did it. He made God’s feelings more important than his and thus showed both friendship and devotion. “Abraham believed (trusted) God ... it was accounted to him for righteousness. And he was called the friend of God” (Jas 2:23).
What a great example for all of us! “Listen to Me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek the LORD: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you were dug. 2 Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for I called him alone, and blessed him and increased him.” (Isa 51:1-2). We will “walk in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham” (Rom. 4:12), and unselfishly follow him, if we place God’s needs above our own.
God has done everything within his power to restore our relationship. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (Jn. 3:16). He took this initiative while “we were still without strength,” and “still sinners.” “When we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son.” (Rom. 5:6-10).
What an amazing honor that God would still seek our friendship! What a privilege to be allowed to walk with him now and to hope for a closer walk in the world to come. So what will it be for us? So many today seek a relationship with God only as long as they can dictate the terms. Their worship and morality is based on their own selfish ideas. Can we all say along with Joshua, “as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” We sing: “I dare not try to take one step alone” we quote “it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps” (Jer. 10:23). But do we live “trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and depart from evil” (Pr. 3:5-7).
It is no longer possible to know the relationship Adam and Eve had with God. All Genesis makes clear is that sin changed it. Soon after they sinned, “they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day” “Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden” (Gen. 3:7). There was clearly a sense of estrangement in their hearts toward God.
So our image and likeness is now marred. We no longer share all God’s feelings. In the folly of our youth we opened doors into lusts and sin that cause us to see some clearly identified sins very different than God. Dishonesty, sexual lust, gossip or vengeance seen through the emotions created by fleshly lust leads us to see them very differently. While God sees all things through the eyes of unselfish love, we have changed and now see the things we lust only through a lens of selfishness.
So there is now a chasm. When God’s every thought is focused on what is best for others but our gratifications make us willing to harm others, how can a friendship thrive? If we seek to walk with God, we have to remove these hindrances. We must listen carefully to God’s instructions and realize they are the lens of unselfish agape-love. “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” (Mt 22:37-40). Thus agape-love is the key to friendship and a close walk with God. Since “God be true and every man a liar” (Rom. 3:4), any conflict or doubt is our problem, not his. “What does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” (Mic. 6:8)?
We all know selfish attitudes poison any friendship. Why would it be different with God? He is never selfish (God is Love). Anything he asks us to do is always in our best interest. This has always been God’s plea. “Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever” (Deut 5:29).
A true friend seeks to accommodate the needs of his friend. God has always done this for us. But the only person God ever called a friend was “Abraham My friend” (Isa. 41:8). Abraham was God’s friend because he respected, trusted and treated him as God. Abraham used every opportunity to be unselfish. Every time God asked him to do something, whether he thought it was in his best interests or not, he did it. He made God’s feelings more important than his and thus showed both friendship and devotion. “Abraham believed (trusted) God ... it was accounted to him for righteousness. And he was called the friend of God” (Jas 2:23).
What a great example for all of us! “Listen to Me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek the LORD: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit from which you were dug. 2 Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for I called him alone, and blessed him and increased him.” (Isa 51:1-2). We will “walk in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham” (Rom. 4:12), and unselfishly follow him, if we place God’s needs above our own.
God has done everything within his power to restore our relationship. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (Jn. 3:16). He took this initiative while “we were still without strength,” and “still sinners.” “When we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son.” (Rom. 5:6-10).
What an amazing honor that God would still seek our friendship! What a privilege to be allowed to walk with him now and to hope for a closer walk in the world to come. So what will it be for us? So many today seek a relationship with God only as long as they can dictate the terms. Their worship and morality is based on their own selfish ideas. Can we all say along with Joshua, “as for me and my house we will serve the Lord.” We sing: “I dare not try to take one step alone” we quote “it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps” (Jer. 10:23). But do we live “trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and depart from evil” (Pr. 3:5-7).