Are You Friends With Jesus?

[MissBrattified]

Originally Posted by Michael The Disciple

Jesus has friends. Are you one of them? He gives us a test concerning who his friends are.

14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. John 15:14

Jesus Christ speaks very favorably concerning doing his will or commandments. He tells us he will count us as his friend if we do whatever he says. It seems like there would be a rush to know and to keep his commandments!

Yet it seems most believers feel negatively towards keeping Christ commands. According to the Jesus John fellowshipped with he held people in esteem who would keep his commandments.

This is a pretty broad statement. My perspective is that most believers are striving to do what they know to be right, and we don't all agree on what comprises "right." Yes, there are some looking for easy, breezy Christianity and they create their own, self-serving religion, but I don't feel those people make up the majority.

I also like what my pastor says: "It doesn't matter where you are on the road; it matters what direction you're facing." We can be a little too quick to think that everyone needs to be at the same level of progress that we are. Let people mature in Christ at their own pace. There were "commandments" that I struggled with when I was younger. Those same issues seem easy now, and now I struggle with different ones. There are also things that I saw as optional when I was younger, that I now realize are very, very important. Likewise, there are things that in my youth I thought were SO very important, and in reality, they weren't the "weightier" matters at all.

I do like this video by Craig Groeschel, based on his book, The Christian Atheist.