My God, My Friend

My daughter was playing around with her IPOD last night, and said she wanted to play the "what if" game with me (some silly game she had downloaded), and I said okay.

She asked me random questions like:
- "would I prefer to eat lizard skin or squirming roaches".(Eeeww. Just the thought of that made me gag a little.)
-"would I want to be homeless with 30 friends, or rich with no friends"
-"would I rather be wealthy in a job I hate, or poor in a job I love"
-"would I rather have a uni-brow or buck teeth"
-"would I rather die of starvation, or dehydration"... And so on.

We laughed at all the dumb questions, some much weirder and grosser than the few above, until she came to one specific question.

The question was, "would you rather be able to talk to God and nobody else, or be able to talk to anyone and everyone, except God".

Of course, the best answer would be to choose talking to God, over talking to friends, but on the other hand, that might make for a lonely life from an earthly perspective. I know that God is our best friend, and no one could ever love us as much as He does, but to think we had to choose between never talking to anyone ever again except God? Hmmmmm. Makes you think, doesnt it?

Even though it is hard for us to grasp that concept with our human minds, God wants to be our one true friend. In fact, He wanted it so much, that He gave His only son to die on the cross for us. Sometimes the best friendships cost something.

But God didnt just let Jesus die on the cross, He gave Him victory over death, for us. Jesus cleared the way for everyone to have victory too, over sin and death, if we choose to believe in Him. As a result, we are free to pursue a relationship with God, and be friends with Him!

Lets think a little deeper about this whole friendship thing: A true friend only wants what is best for us, and God would definitely rank the highest in the true friend category. I can tell Him anything, and know that He will respect my privacy. I can cry on His shoulder and pour out my innermost feelings, and feel His arms and comfort around me. I can be thrilled about happy circumstances in my life, and know that He is pleased that I am joyful. I can be angry at negative circumstances, knowing that He will still love me just the same. Just like a true friend.

God is our one true friend, no matter how many good friends we think we have, none of them compare to the loyalty and dependability we get from Christ. So hypothetically, if God was the only One we could talk to, it might not be that lonely after all. He meets all the criteria that we would seek in a best friend!

I also imagine that we would be more in tune with Gods voice, as we spent all of our time with Him. We would better understand His Word, as we became engaged with His stories and verses. As a result, the more we "hung out" with God, the better friends we would become, and the need for other friends, might become a distant memory.

Is God your friend today? Do you really know Him? Does He really know you? Would you consider yourself to have a close and bonding friendship with Him? Do you have an even stronger relationship with God, than you do your earthly friends?

Im not saying that God does not expect us to have friends, because He wants us to have earthly friends, which is why created a partner for Adam to begin with! He created us to need to love, laugh and fellowship together. He puts special people in our paths to enrich our lives, because He knows we need that companionship. He gives us the blessings of good friends, so that we can build relationships and be an encouragement to each other.

He just asks that we remember to put Him at the top of our friend list, instead of at the bottom.

So what you would you choose?