God Communicates to Us
The good news is our role isn’t nearly as complicated as we might be tempted to think. We think that communion with God, or friendship with God, is some sort of secret, mystical, spiritual experience. We think you need to be a monk or a guru and have some kind of special insight in order to have a relationship with God.
But actually, John Owen describes our relationship with God as his communication of himself to us and our return to him of what he requires and accepts. That is to say that our friendship with God is that he communicates to us what he’s like—what pleases him, what plans he has, what delights him—and then our role is to return to him what he requires and accepts.
And when you look at Scripture, that includes things like joy, delight in him, love for him, obedience about prayer, searching the Scriptures, and listening to God’s word being preached so that we can know him better and participate in the life of the church. Those are the the things that we do in order to express or return to God what he’s given to us. And that’s how we have a friendship with him.
Mike McKinley is the author of Friendship with God: A Path to Deeper Fellowship with the Father, Son, and Spirit.
Related Articles
A Brief Biblical Theology of Friendship
Drew Hunter
In the beginning, we walked with God in friendship. Then we walked away. But now, God is befriending us again.
Our Friendship with God Is a Two-Way Street
Mike McKinley
Most Christians know that they are supposed to do some basic things: go to church, avoid sin, read the Bible, and pray. But what do any of those things have to do with being God’s friend?
Can I Really Have Friendship with the Triune God of the Universe?
Mike McKinley
Because of everything that God has done for us in Christ, we can shockingly have a relationship—a friendship—with God.
Podcast: How Does Life Change If God Is Actually My Friend? (Mike McKinley)
Mike McKinley talks about what it means for us as Christians to be friends of God, about the friendship that Jesus had on earth, and about what it looks like for us to lean into our friendship with God.
