Last week, we started to look at our new identity in Christ. Remember that mental health comes from seeing ourselves as God sees us.
This week our focus is on the reality that Jesus calls us His friends.
In John 15:15, He states that He considers His followers His friends, and as a result, He shares all that the Father shares with Him. Now, that’s intimacy.
Do you have any friends that you can share anything with and know that they will share your joy or sorrow? That’s how Jesus views our relationship with Him. Why? Because He loves us with Phileo love — the love of friendship.
For friendships to be what God wants them to be, they have to be rooted in Agape.
Agape expressed in phileo looks like one friend considering his friend’s needs as more important than his own, as he sacrifices to serve his friend’s well-being, no matter the cost or how he is treated in return.
Jesus loved us with Phileo when He died on the cross for us, and He loves us with Phileo every day.
But, here’s something even harder to comprehend: He not only loves us, He really, really likes us too!
Now, He doesn’t like our flesh – the ways we operate in our own strength and selfishness, but we are not our flesh.
We are who we are based on being members of His family.
So, He sees us as we really are: complete in Him. He sees the finished us. He sees us in Him, righteous, holy, sanctified, and so much more that He’s given us by His grace.
Beloved, we don’t have to like our flesh; in fact, we shouldn’t. We should detest our flesh patterns so much that we choose to put them off and put on our new identity in Him.
The more we learn to rest in our new life in Him, the more we will increase in our awareness of His presence dwelling in our spirit as He expresses Himself through our soul/personality.
As we connect with Him, He will speak in our spirit through His Word and through the Holy Spirit and share all the that the Father shares with Him.
Beloved, think about that. All that Jesus has from the Father, He shares with us. Why? Because we are His friends! How awesome is that! That’s mind-blowing folks!
So, if you react to this with, “Why would He ever want to be my friend?” Stop it!
Reset your mind on the reality that He is your friend because you are in Him and He is in you. You have an intimate friendship with Him!
Blessings!
Robyn