🤝 Jesus Doesn't Just Want Your Worship... He Wants Your Friendship.
📖 Discovery 14
🤝 Jesus Doesn't Just Want Your Worship... He Wants Your Friendship.
"Come and see."
"Henceforth I call you not servants... for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth... but I have called you friends."
— John 15:15
"Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you."
— John 15:14
❓ The Question
How do you picture Jesus Christ?
For many Christians, He is remembered hanging on the cross.
For many Latter-day Saints, He is the glorious, resurrected Lord.
Both are true.
Both are sacred.
But I wonder...
Do we sometimes know everything about Him... yet never really come to know Him?
Do we see Him only as our King...
or have we discovered Him as our Friend?
🕊️ A Relationship... Not Just a Religion
Please don't misunderstand me.
Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
The Creator.
The Redeemer.
The Savior of the world.
Nothing could ever lessen our reverence for Him.
But sometimes...
our reverence unintentionally creates distance.
We begin to think He is almost too holy to approach.
Too majestic to simply talk with.
Too far above us to know us personally.
Yet when I open the New Testament...
that isn't the Jesus I find.
🚶 The Jesus of the Gospels
He walked dusty roads with fishermen.
He laughed around dinner tables.
He blessed little children.
He attended weddings.
He wept with friends.
He told stories that everyone understood.
He wasn't difficult to approach.
Children ran to Him.
Sinners ate with Him.
Ordinary people loved being around Him.
Even after His Resurrection...
where do we find Him?
Standing on the shore.
Calling to Peter.
"Cast your net on the right side."
Peter immediately recognized the voice.
Then...
Jesus already had breakfast waiting.
Think about that for a moment.
The resurrected Lord of Heaven...
made breakfast for His friends.
❤️ That's the Savior I have come to know.
🤝 "I Have Called You Friends"
The night before His crucifixion, Jesus said something extraordinary.
"Henceforth I call you not servants... but I have called you friends."
Friends.
The King of Kings chose that word.
Then He added something many of us read too quickly.
"Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you."
For years I assumed that meant simply keeping a written list of commandments.
But over time...
I began to see something much deeper.
👣 What Was Jesus Talking About?
When Jesus spoke those words...
His disciples had spent three years walking beside Him.
They weren't carrying a checklist.
They were listening.
One day He said,
"Come, follow Me."
Another day,
"Cast your net."
Another,
"Feed My sheep."
Another,
"Fear not."
They learned something far greater than memorizing commandments.
They learned to recognize...
His voice.
That reminds me of another beautiful promise.
"My sheep hear my voice... and they follow me."
— John 10:27
Notice what He didn't say.
He didn't say,
"My sheep simply know about Me."
He said,
"They hear My voice."
🌅 His Commandments Continue Today
I believe Jesus still speaks.
Not by replacing the scriptures.
The scriptures teach us who He is.
But through His Spirit...
He teaches us what He would have us do today.
Sometimes those promptings are life-changing.
❤️ Forgive.
🙏 Repent.
🤲 Serve someone.
📖 Share your testimony.
But many times...
His commandments are wonderfully simple.
📞 Call your daughter.
💬 Encourage your wife.
😊 Smile at a stranger.
🤝 Help a neighbor.
🧦 Pick up your socks.
Those little promptings may seem insignificant.
But friendships are built...
one conversation at a time.
📖 What I Continue to Discover
As I have studied the Nemenhah Sacred Records alongside the Bible and the Book of Mormon, one truth keeps shining through.
The Savior continually invites His people to come closer.
To hear Him.
To trust Him.
To walk with Him.
To let Him guide the little moments...
as well as the great ones.
That has changed my life.
❤️ My Personal Discovery
Somewhere along this journey...
Jesus stopped being Someone I admired only from a distance.
He became Someone I speak with every day.
Sometimes while driving.
Sometimes while studying.
Sometimes while floating quietly in a swimming pool, thanking Him for another day of healing.
Sometimes I ask questions.
Sometimes I simply listen.
Sometimes...
I smile.
Not because I respect Him less.
But because I finally realized...
Perfect love casts out fear.
The closer I have come to Him...
the more I have discovered that He has always wanted to be close to me.
✨ My Invitation
Perhaps Christianity was never meant to be simply following rules.
Perhaps it has always been about following a Friend.
A Friend who knows your name.
A Friend who walks beside you.
A Friend whose voice still whispers today.
Learn His voice.
Trust His promptings.
Follow those small daily invitations.
Because friendships are built...
one conversation...
one prompting...
one simple act of faith...
at a time.
And perhaps your greatest discovery won't simply be that Jesus is your Savior.
It will be that...
Your Savior has always wanted to be your Friend.
📖 "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me."
— John 10:27
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