Friends
Scripture Reading — Genesis 18:16-33
“I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.”
Have you been blessed with close friends? Maybe they are friends you have known all your life, or maybe they are relatively new friends. Either way, one of the best measures of a good friendship is the willingness to be open and honest together. Good friends are transparent with one another.
Abraham “was called God’s friend” (James 2:23), and we see some evidence of that in today’s story (Genesis 18). God wanted to be transparent with Abraham, so he told Abraham of the destruction that would soon come on Sodom and Gomorrah because of their grievous sin. And Abraham did not simply take this as information; he pleaded with God to spare these cities if there were 50, 40, 30, 20, or even 10 people living there who tried to live righteously—by following God’s ways.
As Christians, we have a friend in Jesus. He shares with us everything he learned from his Father—and this includes all the good news of salvation as well as all the warnings and rebukes we need to hear about turning away from sin. And by the power of his Spirit, he says, we can live God’s way.
So, like Abraham, we can plead with God to save our friends and family who don’t yet know him. And, like Jesus, we can share the gospel and our own testimonies, praying that these words will help bring salvation to others. What’s more, we can rejoice that God graciously calls us his friends!
Lord, we stand in awe that you call us your friends. Thank you for revealing what you have done, are doing, and will do in your kingdom! Amen.
About the author — Gerrit Bomhof
Gerrit Bomhof immigrated as a young child with his family from the Netherlands to Vancouver Island, British Columbia, in 1954. He graduated from Trinity Christian College in 1972 and from Calvin Theological Seminary in 1976. He served as a pastor to five churches in Canada and retired in June 2017.
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