I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (John 15:12-13 NIV)
Friendships are a great source of joy in our lives. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. This joy is one of the reasons Jesus commands His followers to love each other. The joy Jesus knows in loving the Father and loving us can be the joy we experience in deep friendships.
However deep friendships serve a greater purpose than making us happier. Deep friendships allow our lives to make an eternal difference in this world and in the lives of our friends. When we follow Jesus and lay down our lives for our friends, Jesus and His agape love (unconditional, sacrificial love) move from heart to heart and from life to life.
Relationship is the bridge over which Jesus moves from one life to another.
Loving a friend by being there for them and praying with them when they get an unexpected and devastating diagnosis from the doctor allows Jesus to touch their life in the deepest part of their soul. Every expression of love and caring for a friend can be used by Jesus to express His love for them and to draw them closer to Himself. Living our lives for Jesus by loving God with all our hearts and loving others offers an opportunity for our lives to have eternal significance by being part of what God is doing in their lives already by His prevenient grace (grace that goes before salvation to draw us to Jesus).
Relationship is the bridge over which Jesus moves from one life to another.
Real, caring friendship is not an evangelism tool. It is not a means to the end of collecting a I-brought-my-friend-to-Jesus trophy. Friendship means we really care about another person, and friendship with them is valuable in and of itself. Both of our lives are deeply enriched by the caring and acceptance and fun we share with good friends. But love also makes a witness. When we love another person not only with our own caring, but also with the love of Jesus flowing in and through our hearts, that love will draw them to Him.
What if we become witnesses for Jesus as a natural part of good friendships? What if another person whom we love and care about sees Jesus so clearly in our lives through the vulnerability and transparency of the friendship that they want to know more about Him? Then we have the opportunity to "show and tell" about the greatest thing that has ever happened in our lives - knowing the grace and forgiveness of Jesus Christ. When a friend asks, "Why are you so different?" we have the opportunity to say simply and honestly, "Jesus is changing me to be more and more like Him."
Relationship is the bridge over which Jesus moves from one life to another.
Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. Perhaps Jesus had the Cross in mind when He said this to His disciples. He laid down His life there for me in the greatest act of sacrificial love the world has ever seen. And perhaps He had in mind the sacrifice of standing up against someone who is bullying my friend and being excluded from their social circle. Jesus sees every act of self-sacrifice a person makes for a friend. He uses it as a witness of His own sacrificial love for us. And He is proud of us when we live in His love when it costs us something - when we take up our own cross and follow Him (Matthew 16:24).
Here's a final piece of good news for today. Even if a friend never takes the step of putting their faith in Jesus Christ through the love they see in my life, the world is a better place because I have lived as a friend to others, and I have gained the joy of friendship in my own life. Friendship is its own reward. It nourishes the part of being created in the image of God that is made for relationships. God uses deep friendships to bless both friends. And Jesus moves back and forth over the bridge of relationship to bless both persons.
Do you want to live a life of eternal significance? Do you want to be part of changing the world? Start by being a true friend and building a deep friendship with an acquaintance or neighbor. Jesus will bless it, and you will be enriched. And He might just use that relationship as a bridge to pass from your heart to theirs.