The Love of God Our Friend

“We love because he first loved us.” 

1 John 4:19

When we believe something deeply, it changes what we do. When we let the truth of the unending, unchanging love of God fill our hearts, that same love spills out of us like a cup overflowing onto everyone we interact with.

We love others more fully when we more fully understand God’s love for us.

A little bit ago, we looked at the love of God as the perfect Father who hears and comforts us. A few weeks ago, we discussed God’s love in the way He intentionally created us. For the last topic of this series, I want to explore God’s love as our friend.

Our Faithful Friend

¹³ “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.”

John 15:13–15

What a joy and honor it is to be called a friend of God! Our God desires a deep relationship with us. He wants to hear our joys and sorrows. He wants to spend time with us. He wants to help us in our struggles and comfort us in our pain. He is deeply relational.

And He made us to be like Him. We are each born with a desire and need for deep friendship. No matter your age, personality type, nationality, generation, worldview, or anything else, you were created to live in loving community. 

I would consider myself an introvert. My ideal day involves a really good book, a mug of vanilla chai, and maybe a nature walk. I could spend hours in my own little world. But you know what happens if I spend too much time by myself even as an introvert? I start to feel lonely.

There’s nothing wrong with taking time away from others. Even Jesus often removed Himself from the crowds to be alone with the Father, but we weren’t made to live this life on our own. And I would go so far as to say that deep down, we don’t want to.

We’ve all seen a child mimic the person they look up to. We’ve all experienced the pain of feeling excluded. We’ve all done silly things to try to fit in.

We want to belong.

But even when we’re surrounded by the most godly, compassionate, deep community, there are still moments of hurt. Community is good, but no community is perfect. We will let the people we love down, and they will let us down in turn. And as the relational creatures we are, these shortcomings can create all sorts of negative thoughts. We can feel unlovable, misunderstood, worthless, abandoned. And believing these feelings are true can lead us down all sorts of dark roads. 

That’s why we must hold fast to the perfect love of the greatest Friend of all: Jesus Christ. 

He is the one who will satisfy all of our greatest friendship needs. He quiets the lies that say we don’t belong by declaring us loved, seen, and valuable in Him. We must believe that our God means what He says:

“I have loved you with an everlasting love.”

Jeremiah 31:3

“I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit.”

John 15:16

“I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:20

He loves you. He chose you. He is with you always. You can rest securely in the identity He gives you: a friend of God Himself. 

Don’t be afraid to build friendships with the people around you; life in community is so much better than life without. But when hurt does happen, remember the love that Christ has shown you, and let that deep understanding direct the way you respond.

To end, I want to echo Paul’s prayer for the Ephesian church over you and me: 

¹⁷ So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸ may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, ¹⁹ and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:17–19

Action steps:

• Dedicate some time to read through the first few chapters of Ephesians. This book is full of truth about your identity in the love of Christ.

• Use the verses above to meditate

  on God’s love for you as your perfect Friend. 

• Spend time with a friend or your LifeGroup discussing the ways you see God’s friendship and love in your life. 

May God our Friend draw you into a deeper relationship with Himself.