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More than a Servant

John 15:15
“I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”
A friend is a person whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection. Friends are those who know each other, love each other, and help each other during times of need. Jesus called us, His chosen people, His friends because we are more than simply servants to Him. Jesus longs to have eternal relationships with us, but like with friends, we are able to choose how deep our relationship with Him is. The deeper a friendship, the more walls fall and the more gruesome parts of personal lives are revealed that otherwise would not be. Such is like Jesus, who the more we spend time with, the more we learn about Him and the more we are willing to tell Him about us. When we learn about the Lord and the reckless love He has for us, why would we not want to be friends with Him? Our God longs for nothing more than an honest, open relationship with those who He created. Like the initial parts of friendship, there is nothing more intimidating than crying out to the Lord regarding the deepest parts of ourselves in which we carry an abundance of shame, but soon we are able to realize that He wants nothing more than to heal us, molding us to be more like Him in the process. He wants nothing more than for us to be completely engulfed in His presence where He is always there and will always find us. During my time here at IGNITE, a reoccurring theme has been love. Love has always been a sore subject for me because I simply do not understand it. I have never felt as though the love people had for me was genuine, but forced. To learn that the Lord not only wants to be my friend but has a genuine, unconditional love for me is sometimes incomprehensible and yet, it is only the beginning of an eternal friendship. Jesus is my friend, my savior, He’s my rock, and my redeemer, and I am His.

Application

Today, I will write “More than a servant” on my arm as a reminder that Jesus is my friend. 

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