Friends, Enemies, The Cross.

Before you meet God, He was in a certain sense your enemy, and you were friends with sin, Satan, and the world.

What God did was: He set Himself as an enemy of sin, of Satan, of the world, even of death — and He was literally ripped apart by these things at the cross. God did all this so that He could be your friend.

Jesus removed every single obstacle between you and him so that you could be together, in the best relationship there is. Friends are willing to pay the cost for love: and greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

After you meet God, you are now at odds with the world, which is why the Christian life is so hard. But you have Jesus, and he calls you out into the world to help remove those obstacles too. He calls us to cross over the dividing line of the human heart, to change enemies into friends: just as you were changed.

In a way, the Christian is a matchmaker between Heaven and earth. When you’re friends with God, your mission is to hook people up with God.

— J