READ: JOHN 15:12-17; ROMANS 5:10-11

When you look around at school or at church, how can you tell which people are friends with each other? It’s pretty easy, right? They hang out together. They choose to sit near each other, they talk and laugh and update each other on their lives. They might do things together like play games or sports or work on projects. After a while, they probably start acting like each other too.

Friendship really is a great gift from God. He designed us for community with other people…and with Himself. And even though humanity turned away from God, rejecting Him and becoming His enemies, the Bible tells us Jesus has made us friends with God through His death and resurrection. In Jesus, God made the way to forgive our sins and draw us close.

So, how can you tell if someone is friends with God? If they spend time with Him. After all, that’s how friendships grow—by spending time together. We became God’s friends when we put our trust in Jesus. Now we can grow in that relationship by hanging out with Him. And Jesus showed us what kind of friendship He wants to have with us when He came and lived among us. The God of the Universe did life with people. Jesus ate, traveled, sailed, fished, went to parties, went to synagogue, and sang hymns with His followers. He taught them, healed them, and He also listened to them. Being friends with Jesus is pretty amazing when you think about it.

Today, even though we’re waiting for Jesus to return to earth the same way He ascended into heaven, we can still do life with Him because His Holy Spirit lives inside Christians. We can talk to Him, and listen to Him talk to us, as we pray and read and study His Word—the Bible—both by ourselves and with other Christians. And the more we get to know Jesus, the easier it will be to discern His voice, kind of like how you can recognize your friends’ voices even in a crowded room. No matter what we’re doing or where we are, we can choose to interact with Jesus. He is always eager to listen to us, help us, and share our joys and sorrows with us.

Friendship with God is the most wonderful friendship we’ll ever experience. And as our relationship with Him grows, we’ll treat other people in a more loving way because we’ve experienced God’s love for us. More and more, our decisions will reflect His love. • A. W. Smith

• In what ways do you want to grow in your friendship with Jesus? Has spending time with Him already affected the things you value and the ways you treat others? How so? (1 John 4:19)

So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God. Romans 5:11 (NLT)