Think about the best friend that you have ever had. The very best. The one you know just about everything about. The one who knows everything about you, and still calls you friend. The one that you can count on to be there for you. You know their favorite food, their favorite color, all about their family. The one who stood with you in your darkest hour. The one you can count on to make you laugh and will cry with you too. Got that friend in your mind? Hold that thought.
When we tell others about our dear friend, we speak with knowledge because of the history we have shared with them. We want to share the joy our friend brings to our life.
The Apostle John had a dear friend. He spent hours, days and months for a total of three years with the best friend he would ever have. He walked miles with his friend. He watched him heal the sick, raise the dead, feed thousands on a boys lunch. He sat under his mentoring for hours. He saw his friend dead in a tomb and then alive again. He had history with this dear friend. His friend, Master, Teacher and Lord? Jesus Christ. John would often refer to himself as the one Jesus loved. I happen to believe that they were all loved by their beloved Jesus but John was the one that Jesus asked from the cross, to look after His mother for Him. He was special. He would be the one selected to write the last book of our Holy Bible.
~Thought For Today~
That friend I asked you to think about? If I tried to tell you something about your friend that was not correct. You would set me straight. Likewise, I would do the same. Why? Because, I know what I know about my friend as do you, about yours. John wants us to know his friend Jesus was who He said He was. He was with the Father in heaven, He was revealed to the disciples and then the world. At the very least, twelve men witnessed miracle after miracle. If all that wasn’t enough, they saw Him dead in the tomb and then cooking them breakfast on the bank of the Sea of Galilee, three days later. They watched Him rise up into the heavens above them. They heard angels tell them He would come back again in the same way. They saw Him, they touched Him, they heard His voice, they prayed with Him. He was their friend. They knew what they knew because they knew Him. They speak with knowledge about the Messiah, Jesus Christ.
The world wants to change our thinking about John’s friend. The world wants us to believe He was just a man. Granted a good man, but only a man. Then there are those that want to convince us that He had a complex that caused Him to make rash statements that He was the Messiah. He was a rebel. What John knew about Jesus could not suddenly become unknown. It was all too miraculous and amazing! All of them, but John, would die horrible deaths because they could not deny He was the Christ, the Son of God. They saw too much. Things that could never be erased from their minds. No threat of death could make them deny He was who He said He was.
My point? I stand on the knowledge of the history these men had with their friend and Savior Jesus Christ. I don’t need to see Him or touch Him myself to believe He is the Messiah. It is my experience and I pray it is yours as well, that He forgave me of my sins and extended grace and mercy to me. He has stood with me at the bedside of my passing family members. He has sat with me through sleepless nights of decision-making. He has carried me through crisis after crisis. He has loved me like no other.
John is confirming something. If we have experienced the light of God in a dark world and the cleansing blood of Jesus, we have met his dear friend. We are not mistaken about the man called Jesus. In all of their writings they are introducing us to their beloved friend Jesus. Why? So that we may fully share in the joy of those who walked with Him, talked with Him and saw Him risen from the tomb. Victory over death!
~Scripture For Today~
1 John 1:1-4
1 We proclaim to you the one who existed from the beginning, whom we have heard and seen. We saw him with our own eyes and touched him with our own hands. He is the Word of life. 2 This one who is life itself was revealed to us, and we have seen him. And now we testify and proclaim to you that he is the one who is eternal life. He was with the Father, and then he was revealed to us. 3 We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. 4 We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy. (NLT)
John 20:3-10
3 Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. 4 They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. 5 He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. 6 Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, 7 while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. 8 Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed— 9 for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. 10 Then they went home. (NLT)
~Prayer For Today~
Hello Father! We praise You for sending Jesus. Our advocate. Our friend. Our Savior. Our Prince of Peace. Our Shelter and Strong Tower. Forgive us of our sins. In Jesus’ name. Amen.