The last few years have been brutal for friendships.
According to Fortune Magazine, nearly half of Americans have lost touch with a close friend over the last several years. Another study polled 1,000 Americans, indicating they lost an average of seven friends in the previous few years.
This kind of isolation impacts our sense of connection to people and our relationship with God. When friends abandon you, it's easy to wonder, "Is God going to bail on me, too?"
As we deal with an increasing sense of loneliness and betrayal, a perfect song speaks to the unchanging friendship Jesus provides. CAIN's new song, "Friend in Jesus," points to our need for the friendship Jesus offers us. The band sings in the song's bridge:
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"He walks with me.
He talks with me
And He tells me I am His own."
In the chorus, the band samples the opening line of Charles Fry's 1881 hymn, The Lily of the Valley. "I havе found a friend in Jesus - He is еverything to me."
In an interview with The Christian Beat at the K-LOVE Fan Awards, Taylor Cain shared how her personal story intersected with those words from the hymn the band made new. "I'm thankful to get to a moment to share my testimony - how God healed my voice 12 years ago. Every night I get to share this testimony, I hope it builds faith. Maybe in the listener when they hear this song - that whatever they're going through, they don't have to just have a master - they can have a friend. They can have a friendship with Jesus."
Friendship with Jesus—those aren't words that many of us associate together. We think of Jesus as Lord and ourselves as servants. We consider Him as our Savior and ourselves the rescued. We look at him as our leader and ourselves as His followers. But we don't think of ourselves as friends. That often seems far too casual and intimate.
Yet, Jesus used the word friend several times, specifically in his final teaching to His disciples the night before His crucifixion. John 15 records His explanation of the relationship between Him and the disciples as friends.
"This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn't confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me."
In this passage, Jesus uses the word "friend" because of the love, sacrifice, and intimacy shared between him and the disciples. Yet, that's not the only thing that justifies the use of the word. In the middle of that text, Jesus adds the concept of obedience to this friendship concept. He said, "You are my friends if you do what I command."
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I have many friends at various levels of trust, intimacy, and history. Some of those friendships are months old, while others have been around for decades. However, I've never said to any friend of any period of time, "You are my friend if you do what I command." I don't know how my friends would react to that sentence, but many would push back on that concept.
So, we need to realize that Jesus wants genuine friendship with us. He wants a relationship marked by intimacy where we know Him and He knows us. At the same time, friendship with Jesus is not equivalent to our best buddy. While millions of "Jesus is my homeboy" t-shirts were sold, this concept is not reflected in Jesus' description.
CAIN probably gets this as well. In the bridge of "Friend in Jesus," the band sings, "And the joy we share - What else compares - It's like nothing I've ever known." The band sings about their friendship with Jesus while admitting that this friendship is not comparable to the ones they have with other people.
If you listen to this song, be warned - it will get in your head. You'll hum the lyrics as you do dishes, drive to work, and go for a morning run. But this isn't a bad thing. In a world where we're feeling lonely and at a time when we've lost some friends and experienced betrayal from others, it's good news to know we have a friend in Jesus!
Scott Savage is a pastor, author, and speaker with the best last name in the world. Scott’s writing helps people transform difficult circumstances into places where they can thrive. He leads Cornerstone Church in Prescott, Arizona, and loves watching movies with his wife and three kids. You can begin Scott’s newest project, The 21 Day Gratitude Challenge, today.
