Best Friend Forever of GOD

Hello my dear friends, once again my post this time talk about best friends. Do we need a best friend in our lives? I am strongly believed mostly of us would answer yes we need best friend. So it is with me! I have a very best friend named Kimiko. She lives in Japan. I have a close friendship with her since we were in college. Beside my Parents and Husband, she’s the one that really knows my secret. To her I could openly and shamelessly talk about everything, even something very personal. Our closeness sometimes exceeds our closeness with our own kin. We have a strong emotional bond. Believe it or not, she once suddenly phoned me in the early morning and said “I don’t know why, this morning I just feel you have a problem. Talk to me…” at the time yes she was true. I had a problem in the office. On the contrary, I also soon could feel if she currently has problems.

My dear friends, I pondered something. If having a best friend of human beings has been very delightful, what about have a very close friendship with our God? It’s something unimaginable how happy we are. The question is, is it possible? Isn’t God too great and cannot longer be reached by the human ability?  That’s right; God is so great, incomparable with the humans. But being a close friend of God isn’t something impossible but actually very possible. From the beginning God longs we could be His best friend but unfortunately man fall into the sin from the beginning. However, God didn’t stop waiting for our willingness to come to Him and got along closely with Him.

The bible clearly mentions some names that had a close relationship with God.  Let’s take a look one of them. Let’s pay attention to Enoch. Let’s have a look in Genesis 5:22a

So all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years.  And Enoch walked with God;

What an incredible close relationship! A great form of timeless relationship. We could see through this verse how Enoch was able to maintain a relationship with the Lord; live in harmony with God for so long. His faithfulness was tested in the long time span, more than of the normal human age.  Enoch lived in the broken era. He lived in the era before the world destroyed by the flood. Enoch lived in the days of the most evil. Human fell into the sin (Genesis 3), murder happened for the first time (Genesis 4), and finally the earth destroyed by the flood (Genesis 6). But in the world filled with sins, Enoch remain faithful live, made a friendship, and walk with God for very long time.  He wasn’t affected by the worldly temptation.  The Bible mentions the fact that Enoch walked with God for more than three hundred years. What happened to Enoch at the time? We all know that because of his very close relationship and walk with God faithfully; he didn’t experience a physical death. Enoch was taken away directly from the sinful world to Heaven with God forever.

And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him. (Genesis 5:24)

The author of Hebrews then wrote again about Enoch:

By faith Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death, “and was not found, because God had taken him”; for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God. (Hebrews 11:5)

I took a bit time to imagine the fact of Enoch. He was taken away so that he didn’t see death. Wow!  I think it was a beautiful and great privilege that given by God to Enoch. He didn’t feel any pain or suffering before death. My dear friends, we might not experience the same thing like Enoch but when we make a very close relationship with God, we will also get privilege from God. What kind of privilege that we will get when we have very close relationship and always walk with God? In the book of Leviticus 10:3 God said:

‘I will display my holiness through those who come near me. I will display my glory before all the people.”

The Lord is a friend to those who fear Him, He teaches them his covenant. (Psalm 25:14)

By make a close relationship with God then God will open to us and show His Holiness and covenant. Another privilege is, let’s take a look to this verse:

Jesus said:” I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15)

Jesus said this thing not just for His disciples but also to us. He longs become our best friend and He started proactively with the concrete proof by sacrificing Himself to die on the cross for our sin. He really loves us as His true friend.

My beloved readers, what about us now? I do believe as a Christian we have placed God as a best friend in our lives and walk with Him. But the question is, how the quality of our relationship with God and what about our behavior when we get along closely with Him? Let’s go back to Enoch for a moment. I pondered the words “And Enoch walked with God” there are two important thing we can get from those words. First, normally if there are two best friends walked together, then they will talk and listen to each other. In this case, God talked with Enoch and Enoch heard God, and so did Enoch talked then God heard. Have we made a balance between talking and hearing? Well, we have to be honest that the fact is we more talking than hearing. Almost every day we moan about our lives problems. Or we are listening God talks just when we take a quiet time around one hour or even less in the morning. After that we will busy with our activities and we will forget about our fellowship with God. We tend to talk more than hearing. There is a reason why God gives us two ears and one mouth, God wants us listen more than talking to Him. God’s word said:

So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;

(James 1:19)

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. (John 10:27)

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:17)

The second thing, have a close relationship and walk with God also mean that we are in line with God. We walk “side by side” with God with the same direction. “Enoch walk in God, not God walk with Enoch” So, it doesn’t mean God must follow the way as our will, but we must follow God’s way and everything we do must be in Him and only to glorify Him.

And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him. (Colossians 3:17)

Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.(1 Corinthians 10:31)

A question to ponder, when we are facing the difficult situation, have we always choose God’s way or we tend to choose the worldly way? Often time worldly way seems more easy and simple than the God’s way. Choosing God’s way often need quite time, worldly way offers an instant solution.  Which way we choose? Remain walk in God or walk in the worldly way and then we will like a lost sheep as written in Isaiah 53:6:

And when we walk with God we will not go astray like sheep that choose their own way.

My beloved readers, allow me to end this post by encourage all of us to learn from Enoch’s life who always walked with God and faithfully get along closely with God. Next week we will commemorate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ the Lord. Approaching of His resurrection day let’s take time for self-reflection. If we say we love Jesus the Lord, Have we make Jesus the Lord as our true friend in our lives and always make a very close relationship with Him every day? Have we been able to hear more His voice than asking Him to hear our voice? Which way we walk, walk in God’s way or worldly way? God may not take away us like He did to Enoch, but we have been awarded the greatest love in human life. God gave His only son died on the Cross to redeem our sins. This is a proof of how great His love as a true friend.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. (John 15:14)

God doesn’t ask us to sacrifice our lives. He just longs and asks us to love Him earnestly and wholeheartedly, life in Him, has a very close relationship, and glorifies Him. Let’s make this Passover season to be a momentum to rebuild and renew our relationship with the Lord Jesus and truly make Him as a true friend, always walk with God in every step of our life. Always hear His voice more and do all which has been commanded by Him, and always maintain our intimacy with God through His word. Rebuild a healthy conversation with God through diligent prayer. Eventually people will know that we are the Best friend forever of God. Amen.

My beloved readers, although Easter day still a week away, allow me,  my husband, and our little son Andrew say, Joining you in gratitude for Christ’s sacrifice and the joyful renewal it brings to all God’s children this Easter season. Happy Easter! We love you all.

 

Karina – Living by faith

Image credit: http://www.firstfilmbc.org