by Meridith Borta
Elementary Principal
My sisters and I grew up in the San Fernando Valley in Los
Angeles, and as embarrassing as it may be to admit now, we were stereotypical
“valley girls”. If you are not familiar with some of the basic valley girl
characteristics, we’ll start first by mentioning that we said “like” every
other word. We also went through a period of time where we called everyone
“dude”. (Dare I even mention that we
were also all blonde cheerleaders?)
I can still remember the day that my sister Laurie answered
my mom by saying, “Okay, Dude.” My Mom’s response is one that my sisters and I
have recounted on many occasions as we’ve reminisced about our childhoods. My
mom looked at my sister and said, “I am not Dude, I am your Mother!”
I mention this story because I fear we are living in a
society that has forgotten that we serve the God of the universe and has started
calling God “Dude”
We see t-shirts that read “Jesus is my BFF”. Some have taken
the idea so far as to write songs like, “Beer with Jesus” which paints Jesus as
your best buddy—just a regular Joe who is “cool” enough to sit down and have a
drink with you at the local bar. Another singer excuses the bad behavior in her
song by saying that Jesus would understand and they’d get along just fine.
Yes, those are country songs, but even the church is not
exempt from this attitude. I’m sure we’ve all sung the popular chorus “I am a
Friend of God” on more than one occasion.
So, aside from the absurd “anything goes” mentality of the
country songs I mentioned above, is there any truth to this idea that Jesus in
our friend? The answer is YES! John 15-12-17 says:
“My command is
this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater
love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 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. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed
you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that
whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.”
How truly unbelievable it is that our
heavenly Father calls us friends and wants to have a personal relationship with
us! Perhaps it is knowledge of this amazing truth that sometimes results in a
warped perspective of who God is. Are we calling our Savior “dude” or are we
giving him the respect, admiration, and authority in our lives that he deserves?
Jesus calls us to recognize him as so much
more than our BFF. The following is an excerpt from a famous sermon by Reverend
SM Lockridge. I pray this helps you remember and stand in awe of the
indescribable KING that we serve.
Video Link
Link to the Sermon Text
http://thatsmyking.wordpress.com/words/
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