Transformation Power

   Confession time...I was a goody-two shoes.   I never had any desire to smoke or drink or party.  I always did my best in school and the first time I ever skipped a class was my senior year when I cut band because I wasn't allowed to practice "Pomp and Circumstance" with the band (since I would be walking in my cap and gown). 
   But given all that, I still had the overwhelming experience of becoming a new creation in Jesus.  I was fresh.  I was clean.  I was pure.  I was loved.

    The transformation power of a new life in Jesus wasn't lost on me, but maybe it was a little under-understood.  That changed this week when I walked into my father-in-laws arms.

    This was a man I knew I would never be able to please.  He was a hard man with distinct opinions and his way was the right way, no matter what.  If things didn't go his way, he would kick you out of his life.  My husband, his oldest son, had been disowned more times than he could count, and just in our 17 years of marriage, I can count three times in which we went several years without speaking to him.  This most recent time has lasted four years.  We were told he didn't exist to us and we should leave him alone...don't call, don't visit, don't bother.
    So imagine my surprise when he calls out of the blue and asks us what happened to cause this lost relationship!  My husband explained it all, and his dad asked for forgiveness.  Forgiveness!  Without making any excuses, he simply admitted he'd done wrong and could we please start over.  My husband agreed, with caution and watchfulness.  They continued to speak at least weekly over the phone, and we made plans to visit this month.  When we got here, this man who was always too strong to be effected by emotion was crying his eyes out at how beautiful the kids are, how much it means that we came, how good it is to see us.  He asked my oldest daughter (who is just as opinionated as he is) to please forgive him.  He humbled himself so much that he asked for forgiveness from a child! 

    Now I was pretty floored by what I was seeing, but because of past history, I maintained a watchfulness of my own.  After all, I had given up on this man.  I had written off any hope of ever having a relationship with him.  But as I listened, I noticed how different he was.  Where he once spouted his opinions as gospel, he now shared what he was learning from the Gospel.  When he would once complain about how his church was doing things wrong, he was now telling everyone who would listen what his church was doing right.  When he used to push people away, he was now calling them close to pray over his weakness.  When anger used to rule his emotional scale I was now seeing love, empathy, and compassion.  This man, who at one time lost every friend he ever had, was now surrounded and embraced by men on a scale I never dreamed was possible.  And in the quiet moments, he embraces his family.  There are hugs almost more than there are words. 

   It was there in his arms, where I never dreamed I would ever be welcomed, that I realized the depth and power that Jesus has when it comes to changing a human heart.  There is no other explanation than the hand of GOD was moving in this man.

GOD have Your way!

Friend of GOD

Jesus called me HIS friend!!!!  So why does that scare me?

In John 15:15 HE calls me friend.  I read the verse again just yesterday.  The part that really stuck with me was this..."No longer do I call you servants...but I have called you friends".

So what is the difference between a servant and a friend?  I am comfortable with calling myself a servant of GOD.  I know what that means and I know what that looks like.  HE asks me to do something and I do it.  I owe HIM so much, even my life, that I consider it an honor to live to serve HIM!

But HE calls me friend...and I am struggling with that shift in our relationship.  It means so much to HIM that I do things for HIM because I want to.  HE would rather I obey because I love HIM rather than because I owe HIM.  HE calls me friend to let me know that HE doesn't see me as a robot to be mindlessly obedient, but as a human with a heart and mind, full of opinions HE designed for me to have, and I don't always have to agree.  HE wants to let me know that I only have to ask HIM and I can be privy to the secrets of eternity, the smell of the universe, and the heart of the Father.  Servants aren't in on the Master's plans...but friends are...

Friendships are also harder to maintain than jobs.  It takes committment to each other, time spent with each other, hearts covering each other.  Jesus calls me friend because HE wants to spend time with me, not just dismiss me when the job is done.  I have heard that the best servants are the ones you never have to see; they just do their job and get out of the way, but HE wants to share HIS heart with me, and hear mine in return.  That takes time being spent together, listening to each other.  Friendship goes much deeper that simple servanthood.

Mistakes also mean more when they happen in a friendship than when they are done by a servant.  I mess up as a servant, there will be discipline and no hard feelings. Make a mistake in your friendships, well,  that's a whole lot more personal.  There will be broken hearts and lingering hurts.  Yes, friends forgive, but I don't want to be the one hurting HIM in the first place.  I've done that enough already! 

So it takes a risk to be a friend.  And when that friend is as big as Jesus, that's a lot of risk!

I guess I figured out why I am incredibly humbled and more than a little intimidated by being called HIS friend.  Being a friend of Jesus is going to be a lot harder than being HIS servant, but I want it!  I want that kind of relationship with HIM!