"I Have Called You Friends"

"I have called  you friends, because I have made known to you all things I have heard from my  Father." - JOHN 15:15.

USUALLY, the first step in building a close friendship with someone you meet is to spend time with the person.  As you talk to each others, sharing thoughts and experiences, you become friends.  When it comes to building a close friendship with Jesus, we face challenges.  What are some them? 

The first challenge is that we have not met Jesus personally.  Many Christians in the fist century faced the same challenge. Even s0, the apostle Peter observed:  "Though you never saw him, you love him.  Though you do not see him now, you exercise faith in him." (1 Peter 1:8) So it is possible to form a close relationship with Jesus without having met him personally. 

The second challenge is that we are not able to s peak to Jesus.  When we pray, we direct our thoughts to Jehovah.  True, we do pray in Jesus' name, but we do not talk directly to him. In face,  Jesus does not want us to pray to him.  Why not? Becauses prayer is a form of worshp. and only Jehovah should be worshipped.  (Matthew 4:10)  Even so, we can express  our love for Jesus. 

The third challenge is that Jesus lives in heaven, so we cannot literally spend time with him.  But we can  get to know a lot  without being  physically near him.  We will review four things we can do that will strengthen our friendship with him. First, though, let us examine why it is vital for us to build a close friendship with Chrsit.

Next time: "I Have Called You Friends" - WHY DO WE NEED TO BECOME  JESUS' FRIENDS?

From the jw.org publications