FRIENDZONE

Whats it like to be Gods friend?

Theres a story about two friends who are on a camping.
They were cooking their marshmallows and hotdogs on a
bonfire when a rustling sound came from the woods. At
their surprise, a huge grizzly bear came out with its
mighty growl. One of them immediately wore his shoes
ready to run. His friend, curious about what he was doing,
asked him. Are you sure you can outrun this bear? Then
his friend answered without hesitation, Of course not, all
I need to do is to outrun you.
Hes not the kind of friend that you want, right? However,
this is very much real these days. When difficulties come,
they would leave you behind and save themselves.
Sometimes, its more than that, they would even pull you
down and talk bad things while youre away. Lets ask
ourselves, how many true friends do we have these days?
But clearly, this isnt the kind of friendship that Jesus
instituted. This isnt the kind of friendship God offered.
We have to dig deeper and discover an amazing
friendship that no man in this world could ever give.
Friendzone
The term friendzone is term used by todays generation
as a person whos being turned down by the person that
he or she likes and want their relationship to remain in
the level of friendship. This term is some kind of a
negative connotation. Some people would take this as a

hurtful situation. Moreover, certain terms have also

appeared especially in the social media like seen-zoned
where, after you have opened a chat to the person that
you like, youre only left with the word seen in the chat
box. Theres also Siopao-zoned where BINOBOLA-BOLA
ka na, ASADONG-ASADO ka naman.
For this case, I will declare a new meaning to the word
friendzone, I will Christianize this seemingly negative and
hurtful word or in a jokingly manner, a symbol of failure
will be a new term for victory.
How Is It To Be In Gods Friend zone?
Being a friend of God isnt just an opportunity, its
a privilege. Being regarded or branded as a friend of
God is a very high reward that you could ever receive.
Jesus left a very important message in the last supper
before he did his salvific task. He made a very important
announcement to His apostles apart from the Eucharist.
He called them friends. More than just servants, He
upgraded their status into friends.
Why? Its because He wanted to build a stronger, more
concrete and solid relationship. A relationship that goes
beyond a servant-master level, He wanted to have a
more intense, deeper, personal and intimate relationship.
This will now be the key that will hold these apostles
together after Jesus ascension. This relationship, founded
on friendship and love made the church strong against all
the persecutions that they faced and this kind of
relationship now holds our Christian faith. Thats why we

gather like this regularly. Thats why we share. Thats why

we comfort one another. Thats why we forgive one
another.
Servant and Friend, The Huge Difference
If Jesus didnt upgrade their status into friends, all the
same they would still offer their lives for Him. They would
still be persecuted. They would still be following Him.
They would still die and be martyrs for Him. Nothing will
change except their disposition.
A servant would catch the arrows to save his master but
not out of love but out of obligation. He will die for his
master because thats his job as a servant, he HAS to do
it, he is OBLIGATED to do it, he is TASKED to do it, lest he
will be punished.
But a friends disposition is different. He will catch the
arrows yes. He will offer his life, yes. He will die, of course
but he is not obligated to do so. He will DO it because he
LOVES his friend and no matter what happens, HE will
PROTECT HIM.
Friendship isnt an obligation, its not a job, and its
what you WANT to do because you LOVE your friend.
It goes two ways
Now, here comes the exciting part. The master will not
catch arrows for his servants. In fact, even if this servant
is already hit multiple times, his master will just use him
as a shield. But with friends, no just as you are willing to

risk your life, same goes the other way. The feeling will be
mutual.
If you become FRIENDS with God, not only will you be
obeying Him, doing what HE wills, protecting His name
and proclaiming His Good News, HE will protect you, He
will defend you, He will lift you up and would crush your
enemies. You dont want to mess with Gods friend.
You see, being in Gods Friend zone, we are protected, we
are loved, we are encouraged, we are being provided,
and we will be victorious. What more can you ask for? Our
prayer shouldnt be as a servant, our prayer should
always be like a friend.
How do we get into Gods Friend Zone?
Do you want to be Gods friend? Heres what you should
remember.
James 2:23 says and the Scripture was fulfilled which
says, And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to
him as righteousness, and he was called the FRIEND of
GOD.
It was the deed of Abraham that gained him the position
of being Gods friend. He didnt just have it, he earned it.
And we could learn from him. To make it easier for us to
remember, lets remember the basic rules of traffic.
The main reason why GOD called Abraham His friend is
because of His ultimate Obedience. And based on that
obedience, we can learn these three important points.

STOP Abraham obeyed because he was very keen on

Gods will. He had to stop his work because God was
calling him. In other words, because of his SUBMISSION to
Gods plans, even without knowing it, he earned Gods
favor of friendship.
LOOK This gesture is an act of FAITH. He dont look
anywhere, He looked inside his heart knowing that GOD
has a great plan for Him. He didnt have any idea about
Gods plans, it wasnt revealed to him until later but He
didnt even doubt a single bit. We walk by faith and not
by sight so look with eyes of your heart.
LISTEN This is the ultimate symbol of OBEDIENCE. You
cant obey if you dont listen. You have to take your time
to take quiet, stay away from noise, from bad influences,
from situations that would affect your faith and would
cause you to sin and listen to what He says through the
church, the community, your parents, your seniors and
through the people around you. God has a lot to say to us
only if we have the ears to hear.
Conclusion
Being Gods friend is a great privilege. Jesus has already
made us enter into Gods friend zone when He died on
that cross. We became friends with God when Jesus saved
us from our sins. We dont deserve this privilege but
Jesus, with open heart offered this to us. We had no right
to ask for His friendship but He was the one who gave it
to us. Such a great reward and it can never be replaced
by anything in this world.

All we have to do is respond to this invitation. Some of us

go to church but we still put on that wall of servantmaster relationship. Let us break that level and move up.
We are now Gods friends, we are no longer servants. We
have been given this opportunity, for free and so we must
take care of this friendship. But lets not keep this
friendship for ourselves but let us share this with others.
Today, let us make a declaration of faith. Let us treasure
this friendship and before we do everything we will
express this declaration:
I am a FRIEND of GOD.
I am bound for VICTORY.
I am a FRIEND of GOD
He will use me mightily.
I am a FRIEND of GOD
No problem can destroy me.
I am a FRIEND of GOD
No failure can shake me.
And for every reason that He called me Friend
I will share His LOVE to the very end.