Is really rather straight-forward, according to Jesus:
- He lived by example, laying down his life for others. Friend and foe alike. Even before he went to the cross.
- He instructed his followers verbally to do the same out of love for others. “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”
- He then related to his followers not as servants, but as friends. Not because they passed some litmus test, but because they truly opened their hearts to kingdom friendship.
It’s possible to spend a lifetime following Jesus as a boss, holding to a hundred commands or rules or laws that you assume he expects of you. And maybe that’s fine, as far as it goes. You’re likely to end up being a rather good and generous human being. But it won’t end up making you a friend of Jesus.
However, opening your heart up to loving others, choosing to lay yourself aside in favor of others’ good, looking for opportunities to meet others’ needs, sacrificing your life’s resources for others’ benefit—well, that’s the kind of thing that turns Jesus’ head.
That’s the kind of person that makes Jesus say, “Dang! That’s the kind of friend I want in my life!”
