Picture this: me spending 3 hours laying flat on my face, silent, trying to figure out how the Lord was radically changing all of the my views of who He was. It all started with a team time where we talked about the Holy Spirit and how it was present in Jesus’ life and in our own lives. Our team got in to some super deep conversation about this and it totally rocked my world.
During this team time we talked about how the Holy Spirit was living IN Jesus. The Holy Spirit is the one that gave Jesus all of His power to do miracles and to lead people so well. Without the Holy Spirit, Jesus would’ve just been a normal dude. Doing His do. Just chilling. He was born of a virgin and He’s part of the trinity and whatnot but really, He was just a dude. In a way, we’re on the same level. We both have the same powers. We’re both capable of healing people and bringing the dead back to life. Realizing this gave me the confidence to view Him as a friend.
I started just picturing Jesus sitting next to me as I was doing things. When I would be having a hard time, I would notice Him sitting there comforting me. When I was staring at the beautiful cathedrals of Kiev, He was sitting in the pew next to me, enjoying the view. In this stage of our friendship, I never really talked to Him. He was just there. I was doing life with Him, but I wasn’t ever having conversations with Him.
One day, I realized that this “friend” that I had, Jesus, was wearing white robes. When He sat next to me and we were hanging out, He always wore the same white robes. Awkward. Now let’s be real for a second, I wouldn’t be friends with someone that wore white robes all day, every day. So, I asked Jesus who He was to me. In answer to this question, we had a wardrobe change! Now Jesus wears jeans, a white V-neck (because He’s still holy and the white is symbolic of that), a red and black flannel and moccasins. He has dark, scruffy hair and a lowkey beard. This is the Jesus of today! He’s no longer just a character in the Bible, he’s my homie.
I get to meet Jesus in a totally different place than where I meet the Lord. When I talk with the Lord, I meet Him on the side of the mountain. We look out over the mountain range that He created and I bask in His love. Jesus and I meet either on the swings, or sitting on the top of a bridge with our feet dangling off. It’s more personal. It’s a friendship. I’m not sitting in awe of Him, I’m just being His friend. I’m spending quality time with Him and just listening to what He has to say.
Being friends with Jesus has made everything more personal. It’s given me a new confidence in who He is. It’s made me feel like we’re doing life together. He’s not just this big man in the sky, He’s a dude that does life with me. I don’t feel the need to perform for Him. We just get to hang out and be together. We get to do life together. He gets to be with me in the valleys, the mountain tops, and everything in between.
One night I was sitting there, just listening to the Lord and He asked me, “Who are you ?”
So then I went to Jesus and I said, “Who am I?”
Jesus told me, “You’re a friend of Jesus” and then we high fived and it was kind of lame but also the coolest thing ever. It was cool because I’m friends with Jesus AND because I can be defined by that. ‘Friend of Jesus’ can be my identity.
This past month, Jesus WRECKED my world. He broke down all of the ideas that I had of what relationship looked like. He tore down my interpretation of who He was. He shattered my view of Jesus from the Bible and He replaced it with the Jesus of today. I was wrecked. Everything that I thought I knew about religion felt like a lie because I now knew the truth. The crazy awesome part of this is that I felt so safe the whole time. Everything had been torn apart and ripped into pieces, but I still felt safe and secure. There was this sense of comfort and closeness that I felt as Jesus took my pieces apart, just to put them back together.
I want to invite you into having this same relationship with Jesus. Ask Him, “What does it look like for me to be friends with you? What needs to change before I can accept that that’s all you want from me?” When you get an answer, let me know!! Tell me what your friend, Jesus is wearing! I would love to be involved with your journey as you step into this new relationship.
