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  • What a friend we have in Jesus

What a friend we have in Jesus

Wed, 05/26/2021 - 4:00am
364 Days Of Thanksgiving

I just finished conducting the funeral of my friend Georgia. As a pastor, I consider all the members of my church to be friends, but Georgia was different. We really clicked. She was my buddy. We made each other smile.

I met Georgia eighteen years ago when I began offering a weekly Bible study at our local nursing home. She was at my very first class and she rarely missed in eighteen years. She eventually joined my church and we became good friends.

Georgia died of complications due to COVID-19 a number of weeks ago. We were finally able to have her funeral today. Today I said goodbye to my friend.

But my friendship with Georgia is not the friendship I wanted to talk to you about. You see, my friendship with Georgia was not the most unlikely friendship she had in her life. She had another friend.

His name is Jesus.

I say theirs was the unlikeliest of friendships because Jesus is the all-powerful King and Creator of the universe. And though Georgia was always wonderfully kind to me, she definitely wasn’t perfect.

Georgia was a sinner like you and me. She would be the first to admit that. She knew she didn’t deserve a friend like Jesus. Yet she trusted that he was her friend.

And what a friend she had in Jesus.

Jesus suffered our punishment. He suffered Georgia’s punishment in her place so that she could be forgiven and live with him in heaven. Georgia knew and believed that. I know because she told me numerous times. She knew the all-powerful King of kings and Lord of lords was her friend and Savior.

And that’s my comfort today – not simply that I was privileged to have a friend like Georgia here on earth, but knowing that her friend Jesus has taken her home to heaven. She is now happier than she ever was here on earth. She is with family and friends she hasn’t seen in a really long time.

She is with her best friend Jesus.

Pastor Andrew Schroer has been a pastor for more than 20 years and is currently serving at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Edna, Texas. Read more of his devotional writing and contact him at 364DaysofThanksgiving.com.