Meditation                           HE CALLS YOU “FRIEND”                     Dr. Joseph Stowell
 
No longer do I call you slaves…; But I have called you friends, for all things that I have made known to you. 1 John 15:15 NASB

I don’t remember much about my mom’s decorating, but I do remember the plaque that hung on our dining room wall. It read, “Friends are like melons; let me tell you why: to find a good one, you must one hundred try.” Which may explain why I often heard my dad say, “Joe, the greatest treasure in life is trusted friends.”
 
You really can’t beat a good friend. Friends care for you regardless. They are there when you need them. They laugh with you and cry with you. They cover your faults and affirm your strengths. They share secrets and keep your confidences. Life is enriched when friends are close.
 
All of which makes it an amazing thought to hear that Jesus considers us His friends. As He taught His disciples, “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). His death proved not only that He loves us, but that He loves us as a friend.

The thought that God treats me as His friend stuns my needy heart. To think that He “walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own” gets me through a lot of rough water. That He never leaves me and doesn’t forsake me secures my anxious soul (Hebrews 13:5-6). That He has experienced every pain and therefore feels my pain, comforts me in distress.
 
That He freely supplies abundant grace and mercy in my time of need, fills my staggering spirit with fresh resolve (Hebrews 4:14-16)
What a privilege to sing, “There’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus. No not one! No not one! None else could heal all our soul’s diseases, No not one! no not one! Jesus knows all about our struggles, He will guide till the day is done; there’s not a friend like the lowly Jesus. No not one! No not one!” What a friend we have in Jesus!