Fan...Follower...or Friend?

Jesus called His disciples His FRIENDS!  A true friend is one who walks with you, talks with you, listens to you, believes in you, and stands by you through thick-and-thin.  In like manner, if we want to be called Jesus' friend, our priority is to 1st love Him; 2ndly--to love one another, and 3rd--our pathway (our walk in life) is to love as He loved us.

Many Christians today call Christ their friend--yet they are only acquainted with Him....mere fans and followers....but not friends!  Oh--they've read His Book (the Bible) and listened to some of His teachings, and heard about His miracles, but they only follow at a distance.  They come-and-go as they please.  Seeking a thrill...only "fair-weather friends" at best.  Acquaintances and fans following the excitment--seeking a "free pass" to heaven, or an "instant healing" for what ails them.  They only know about some of the highlights about Him, but they don't intimately KNOW Him!

Those acquainted with Christ float on the surface of His heart whereas friends of Christ dive deep down into the depths and discover the hidden treasures of His heart.  "Deep calls unto deep!"   [Psalm 2:7]   Only those who hear Him CALL...only those that KNOW His voice...only the ones who SEEK to SERVE Him will truly come to KNOW Him and become His intimate and close FRIENDS.

Let our determined purpose be to KNOW Him--to become more progressively and deeply in love with Him.  There's an old chorus that says: 

"The greatest thing in all my life is KNOWING Him;
         the greatest thing in all my life is LOVING Him;
               the greatest thing in all my life is SERVING Him."

If we put these things 1st in our lives--He will, indeed, call us His Friend!