Jesus is a Friend of Mine

It’s winter time here in the mid-west (where I live). February is the dark before the dawn month for us. This Blog entry is for those feeling the lonely winter blues. The spring is coming, friend.

I was talking to my mother-in law not too long ago and I asked her, who is your best friend? With the most sincere smile she quickly said, “Jesus!” I choked back my tears and kept the conversation going but that moment really took me by surprise. I almost cried because in that brief moment I realized that I could not say the same. The last several years have been the most difficult season of my life (struggling with grief, postpartum depression, sin etc.), and when my mother-in-law answered, “Jesus!” I was reminded that there was a season not too long ago when my answer would have been the same as hers. What changed?

Flashback to the early 2000’s…

When YouTube was new-ish my friends and I would have YouTube viewing parties where we would take turns showing our favorite funny videos on a big projector in some friend’s living room. This is where I was first introduced to the now classic; Jesus is a Friend of Mine by Sonseed (a late 1970’s Catholic pop band). If you have not watched that, you need to ASAP! I initially thought this was an early 2000’s band trying to be ironic or something, but no. In fact this was a real band, from the 70’s, really singing about how Jesus is their friend. This made me laugh. Note: I was laughing AT this video and it’s message. The idea of Jesus being “my friend” just sounded, well, silly. Yes, I was a Christian. Yes I confessed Jesus as my Lord and my savior but, “friend” sounded too personal or intimate or something.

That night, something shifted in my heart – the Holy Spirit was at work I can see now in retrospect. Shortly after seeing this video the Lord revealed to me that I had made my friends idols. I knew it was true too. I cherished my friend’s thoughts and opinions, their conversation and connection more than I did His. My mentor and I prayed that I would receive the Lord’s friendship – that Jesus would be, my best friend. We prayed that He would be the first one I talked to in the morning. We prayed that I would cherish what God says in His Word and through the Holy Spirit. We prayed that I would have real connection with Jesus, understanding that I am fully known and loved by Him. I took this verse to heart: Matthew 7:7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”  The Lord answered our prayers. Over months and years I finally could say with complete sincerity and deep affection that Jesus was my best friend. I had no shame in saying that out loud.

Flash forward? Flash back? Anyway! Today, at present…

It’s been a difficult last few years, like I mentioned but to be completely honest, only recently has this idea of friendship with the Lord come back to the forefront of my mind. Grief and sadness have a way of turning our thoughts inward and I didn’t realize how out of touch with the Lord I had become. I may have been doing my “Bible Study” and going to church but God is not interested in our hollow religious rituals - He’s after our hearts. He is after a deeper relationship with us, because we need it! We don’t even realized just how badly we need Him, every day.

God is holy, God is glorious, God is perfect and God in His wisdom knew we needed Jesus not just as our savior and redeemer, but also as a friend. He is the only one who really knows us and loves us exactly as we are. He doesn’t just know us, He can empathize and relate to us like no one else can. Jesus was tempted, as we are temped. Jesus suffered in his body, like we suffer real pain in our bodies. Jesus was separated from His Father, as some of us are separated from our loved ones. What a friend we do have in Jesus.

““Can we find a friend so faithful
Who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness,
Take it to the Lord in prayer.””

Dear reader I want to encourage you to cultivate a real friendship with God. If you have never done that, now is that time. Not sure what that even looks like? No problem, Jesus does and He will take the lead. All we have to do is simply ask and listen. If it’s been a long time since you’ve thought of Jesus as your friend, invite Him in again to have a seat right next to you and be with you wherever you’re at. There is no friendship that is more important than your relationship with Him. There is no other friendship that is going to be better than Jesus Himself. Don’t get me wrong, we need people, we need community, we need to be a part of a local church (that’s what this Blog is all about!), but first, first we need Jesus.

Lastly, you probably have the “Jesus is a Friend of Mine” song stuck in your head, so I’ll leave you with this song instead:

WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS written by Joseph M. Scriven

1. What a Friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry

Everything to God in prayer!

O what peace we often forfeit,

O what needless pain we bear,

All because we do not carry

Everything to God in prayer!

Have we trials and temptations?

Is there trouble anywhere?

We should never be discouraged,

Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Can we find a friend so faithful

Who will all our sorrows share?

Jesus knows our every weakness,

Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy-laden,

Cumbered with a load of care?

Precious Savior, still our refuge—

Take it to the Lord in prayer;

Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?

Take it to the Lord in prayer;

In His arms He’ll take and shield thee,

Thou wilt find a solace there."