Good morning, Lord Jesus. My Lord and Savior, my Shepherd and Advocate, my Master and Miracle-Maker, and yet my Best Friend.
As You said to Your first disciples, You continue to speak to all of Your disciples who would lay down their lives and take up their cross to follow You: "I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from My Father. You did not choose Me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last..." (John 15:15:16).
Yesterday evening I went to Campus 805 and Yellow Hammer Brewery to meet for a couple hours with a group of men for B3 @ 805 ( Brothers, Bibles and Beer). We meet every Thursday evening and spend time reflecting and discussing passages in the Bible and how they impact us as men who love Jesus. Yesterday we looked at Ephesians chapter 1, that amazing chapter of deep theological waters on God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and our identity that is founded and formed by our relationship with this triune of God. This morning I spent time reading John 15 which also speaks into our abiding and identity in Christ.
As disciples of Jesus Christ, we live out our lives in both the fear of the Lord and the friendship of the Lord. We fear You and at the same time, we love You. We serve You as Master and at the same time, we serve alongside You as Friend. We are both bondservants and also bonded together, heart to Heart and spirit to Spirit.
We fear You and honor You. We worship You and serve You. And yet, You invite us into a much deeper, much more intimate, much more humbling and honoring personal relationship with You. We're not merely servants, we're friends. We're not merely defined by what we do for You and Your Kingdom in our service and servanthood, because You desire so much more -- not merely our service but our complete surrender of all that we have and all that we are.
That's the friendship that's closer than blood (Proverbs 18:24). That's the friendship we have with You in both the fear of the Lord and the friendship of the Lord that's only possible through Your Sacrifice of Your blood and the powerful, unfailing, never-ending, steadfast bond of Your love.
To say You no longer call us Your servants but Your friends is to say our identity is no longer grounded primarily in what we do for You but in who we are to You. And when we get that settled in our hearts, we can't wait to go and serve You, to go and bear much fruit in the glory and honor of Your name -- in the name of our Master and in the name of our Best Friend! In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
My family, I pray you may be free to fully embrace the friendship of the Lord as You honor Him and serve Him with all that you are in the reverent and worshipful fear of the Lord., And may you go and bear much fruit that comes forth out of knowing His great love for you, in Jesus' name. Please pray the same for me. God bless you, my friends!
Next week I will be on vacation with my family so my posts may not be consistent. I encourage you to continue starting your mornings with your own reflection time in the Word and even sharing them with others!
Please share with us your thoughts and reflections with us this morning in the comment box below.
I could use your financial support for myself, my family, and those on the margins God has placed in my path I refuse to walk around. Please commit in 2020 to partner and support myself and One Direction community through setting up a monthly donation or a one –time gift by clicking the link below. Donation checks can be made out to ODC, PO Box 1293 Madison, Al 35758.
