Thursday, April 15, 2010

My Friend

On May 4, 1980 God invaded my life. Since that time I have heard one consistent non-stop message from the Holy Spirit: He wants to be my friend!

Now He is not the kind of friend you disrespect. He demands respect, but not because He is demanding, rather, He commands respect just because of Who He Is! He is just worthy of honor.

And yet, I diss Him. I turn my back on Him. I ignore Him. I go do my own thing, even when He tells me I am going to regret it. He is always right and He always forgives me. He corrects me when necessary, but it is always with such love and graciousness that I can hardly believe His patience and grace.

So here is God, the One who revealed Himself in Jesus, the creator of the universe, the Spirit of wisdom and grace, and He wants to be my friend. He is not concerned with offerings. He is not surprised by anything. He is holy and He makes me holy. He does not stand for sin in me, yet he is gracious. It is beyond understanding. He tells me to be perfect like He is perfect, yet He knows that I am deeply flawed.

Over and over again I try to understand Him. I try to walk worthy of His calling to me. When I am doing well He reminds me that it is not by my righteousness that I am made holy, but by His. When I am doing poorly He reminds me that it is not my goodness that draws Him to me, it is His goodness that draws me to Him. I am accepted by Him no matter how I am doing! He reminds me again and again, He wants to be my friend!

It is not about how much of the Bible I read (though the Bible contains the full revelation of who He is). It is not about how many books I read. Or how much time I spend in prayer, fasting, or doing good deeds in the community. It is much more than all of that. He is just looking for a relationship with me. All that stuff is part of it, but He just likes to talk!

I am learning more and more that He just wants us to love one another in the same way that He loves us. He just wants us to have relationship too. To respect one another, to care about each other and to love one another with grace because we all stumble in many ways. He wants us to be friends, with Him and with one another. He wants us to be loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, and kind to one another. He cherishes goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control. I am learning to be that because He is that way towards me. He is my friend. He keeps telling me that over and over. Slowly I am getting it!