A friend who is closer than a Brother.  Have you ever stopped to think just what that means?  Could you imagine coming around a corner, being confronted with a small group of men and women gathered around a single speaker, suddenly realizing you have come face to face with Jesus?  What would you do?  Would you know what to do?  Or would you be like me not knowing whether to cry, jump for joy or kneel, wanting to do all three at the same time?

What would you have done if you lived in Nazareth growing up and had the fortune of knowing Jesus one to one?  If you were elder would you attempt to offer him advice, constructive criticism or admonishment?  How would you have dealt with him being a school teacher responsible for his education, confronted by his discernment and lack of sin?  What would you do if you had the chance to be his friend as a youth?  Do you know that you have all those opportunities right now because Jesus lives with you everyday?  Certainly there is no remaining confusion as to his deity, but we were made for relationship with God.  How then are you approaching that intimate opportunity?

Jesus is not just my God, He is my counselor, my Father, my friend, my Family.  Yes I am in awe of His deity and magnificence, but I have his grace such that I may approach him with firm, confident, relationship.  This is not a lesser god that we place upon a shelf, taking it down to rub its belly or bottle in hope of wishes granted.  He is not a thing of metal or wood to whom we chant for fertile spring, good weather and plenty.  He is a living God, who loves us, prays for our growth, health, blessings and betterment.  He is our advocate, having paid for all of our sins, pleading the power of that fact in the court of Almighty God.  He is our blood, having proved his love by laying down a life by choice, so that we might live in freedom.  I will not treat him as some distant concept, detached, fickle and unpredictable.  He told me what he will do in this world and the next.  He told me what I must do in this world and what to expect in the next.  He continues to change me, educate me, protect and defend me against enemies, even those I have never seen.  This is not a thing of romance or philosophy, but a practical, empirical, evidentiary relationship with God.

This is my God, the Living God, walking this life with me, never leaving me alone to the mercies of time, chance and circumstance.  His name is Jesus, He is my King, my God and my Brother and my Friend.  That is a righteous place upon which to stand against the storms of our day.  Go with God my friends, in Jesus’ Name.