In KidONE this month, we’ve been learning about God’s creativity and how He has put that creativity into each of us. You see, God created us in His image, different from anything else in all creation. He created us with the capacity to think, to love, to imagine, to create. Ultimately, he created us to have a relationship with Him. That was His reason for creation in the first place. The land, sea, stars, plants, and animals were all created to prepare the way for His best creation – us. And all of that was because He wants us to know Him.
One of the best things about kids is their ability to make friends with people so easily. Head to the playground for an hour or so and soon your child will have so many new friends! He may not know any of their names, but in his mind, they’re now his “friends.” Adults have a harder time make friends because we know there is a difference in knowing someone and being friends with someone. God wants us to know Him, but He wants so much more than that! He wants to be our Friend.
I used to have an issue with calling God our “Friend” because it seems like such a superficial title. We tend to use the word “friend” to signify anyone that we know. But that’s not the true sense of the word. When you start to think about friends – true friends – you realize that it’s much deeper than that. Friends are there for you in good times and in bad times. Friends care enough about you to confront you when you’re making bad decisions and when you’re wrong. Friends care about you, respect you, and you trust them with your most intimate thoughts and feelings.
“Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” John 15:13 NIV
That’s friendship. That’s what God did for us out of his desire for us to know Him and have a relationship with Him. Because our sin prevented that relationship, God solved the problem by sending His Son to lay down His life for His friends.
So this month, as we’ve learned about being made in God’s image, which we often take for granted because we’ve heard it so many times, remember that it’s so much more than the ability to love and be creative. Its the ability to have a relationship with the God of the Universe who loves us so much He sent His Son for us. The God who calls us “Friend”.
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Michelle Suarez 