Friendship with Jesus: Finding Your Purpose in AWE

A.W.E. – A World-Changing Experience

Walking with friends on our journey through life adds flavor and texture to the details of our days. Pause for a moment and think about your best friend. What’s the first thing that comes to mind? Something good, no doubt. Friends not only bless us with their presence, they change us with their essence.

In friendship, we value one another and celebrate the good we see. And what we focus on determines the direction we move. When Jesus is the friend we are looking at, we end up moving toward an  awe-inspiring, world-changing GOODNESS that changes our lives and others.

A Deeper Knowing

Friendships grow deep through an investment in knowing one another — but not just factual knowledge like age, ethnicity, interests, and career. Friends seek to understand how the facts melded together to create our beloved companion.

The Hebrew word that describes this kind of knowing is yada. Pause with me just a moment and think what it means to yada Jesus Christ. When you know Jesus as your friend, you walk with the Light of the World and everything you experience together is bathed with HIS GLORY, WISDOM, and LOVE. Investing in your friendship with Jesus opens the way for life to become a romance, a journey of awe.

AWE is good for you.

When was the last time you felt awe for something — or someone? As we grow up, feelings of wonder and amazement come through fleeting, sporadic moments: the birth of a child, a sunrise, or a heroic rescue. But it doesn’t have to be that way — our design is to experience the wonder of this world continually. Walking with Jesus restores you to your God-given purpose and infuses every moment with life-transforming, joyous wonder!

Even secular science recognizes the world-changing power of awe. Their findings link awe with such benefits as clear thinking, better health, and improved relationships. Berkley University, the Association for Psychological Science, and the Templeton Foundation are just a few investigating how awe can change the world. Their current research explores how awe leads people toward generosity and how it combats the destructive mindsets of narcissism and entitlement.

The studies clearly indicate that awe alters the way people process life — transforming individuals and potentially changing the world. But awe is not something we manufacture. Awe is a by-product of an experience that humbles us, puts things in a right perspective, and takes our eyes off ourselves. That is why friendship with Jesus changes the world — His glorious light reveals beauty you would otherwise miss. His friendship allows you to know your purpose and fulfill it. His friendship gives you a vision of hope to share with others.

Let’s explore why and how friendship with Jesus inspires awe.

His Glory Changes Everything

In Scripture, the word glory conveys goodness, splendor and substance — it is value manifested. Every person’s spirit craves meaning and substance. In pursuit of a meaningful life, we often pursue pleasures and treasures that ultimately disappoint. The attempt to meet a real need with a wrong pursuit is the essence of sin. Satan promises fulfillment without sacrifice — but he is the father of lies.

It is only when we pursue friendship with God through Jesus that our spirit finds what it’s looking for. Then, everything changes, and all of life begins to resonate with God’s glory. Only when we walk with Jesus does the true value and beauty of life come into view.

We’re created to know God, and He wants to reveal Himself to us, but His glory is greater than we dirt-based creatures can truly comprehend. Scripture tells us He is a consuming fire (Deuteronomy 4:24, Hebrews 12:29), and God told Moses, “… no man shall see Me and live,” (Exodus 33:20). Friendship with God is the answer to the dilemma.

As our friend, Jesus reveals exactly as much as we are prepared to receive. With Moses, God tucked him into a cleft in the rock and covered him there with his hand. Friendship with Jesus provides a beautiful place of safety and revelation — and searching out the treasure of God’s glory gives meaning to our own lives.

Wisdom Brings Rejoicing

Wisdom is a beautiful facet of Christ’s glory that also invokes awe in our hearts. He is wisdom personified — and His friendship brings the supernatural glow of wisdom into the things we face every day. The concept of wisdom parallels yada — a full knowing. It is the application of truth that helps us move toward God’s will and desire. It’s exactly what we need when facing our problems.

In the book of James, we learn more about the beauty of heavenly wisdom. James tells us that wisdom is: pure, peaceable, gentle, approachable, merciful, fruitful, steadfast, and truthful. With God as our daily companion, those heavenly beauties invade our earthly realities. Wisdom watched and rejoiced with every act of creation — and wisdom brings joy into our present when we walk with God.

Love Never Fails

But what can be more awe-inspiring than something that never fails? You don’t have to be very old to have encountered failure. Truly, the successes we can guarantee are few. But 1 Corinthians 13 promises us that Love never fails. The only way to possess that love is to receive it from God above (1 John 4:19).

You were created for love, do you know that? Not that ooey, gooey, Valentine’s love displayed in a box of candy or a cute bear. Real, sacrificial, enduring love like Jesus demonstrated by leaving heaven’s glory for a world too busy to welcome Him. Love like Jesus evidenced to those who mocked, spit upon, whipped, and crucified Him.

A love like that is supernatural, only available from its divine source. That love is the treasure of those who are friends with Jesus, and that love never fails to change the world.

Endless Increase of Awe Leads to Worship

With all this awe-inspiring truth, we’ve only glimpsed a fragment of Jesus’ glory. The more you know Jesus, the more you love Him. Friendship with Jesus leads you into ever deeper worship and awe of who He is … and that is the A.W.E. that changes the world.

Friend, you have a weighty purpose in this world — you are to be a world changer. And the only way you can ever achieve your purpose is to have the friendship of Jesus.

His friendship changes your reality, and you, in turn, become an agent of change for others. It is a mind-boggling master plan that God has invited you into. When God is your friend, He gives Himself entirely to you. All of His power, goodness, and love are at your disposal for fulfilling your purpose as a world changer! Get to know Him more, and let His glory light the world around you.

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This is the fourth in a series of articles about living as a friend of Christ. If you would like to check out the other pieces, do so here:

• Friendship with Jesus: How Can It Happen?
• Friendship with Jesus: Enjoy Your Daily Bread
• Friendship with Jesus: Prayer Time Tools