I was chat\u00adting with De Wen (a stu\u00addent in our min\u00adistry) yes\u00adter\u00adday and he made a com\u00adment that real\u00adly res\u00adonat\u00aded with me: \u201cGod wants friends, not fans.\u201d<\/p>\n
A lot of us set\u00adtle for being fans. I often set\u00adtle for being a fan. But there\u2019s so much more avail\u00adable \u2014 like Abra\u00adham, we can be friends with God (Isa\u00adiah 41:8, James 2:23). As he did to the dis\u00adci\u00adples, Jesus yearns to say to us, \u201cI no longer call you ser\u00advants but friends\u201d (John 15:15).<\/p>\n
But the temp\u00adta\u00adtion to be a mere fan is strong. In Jim\u00admy Tate\u2019s mem\u00ado\u00adrable phrase, we sub\u00adsti\u00adtute praise for prayer. We allow the life of the church to dis\u00adplace our own spir\u00adi\u00adtu\u00adal jour\u00adney and we live vic\u00adar\u00adi\u00adous\u00adly through the pas\u00adtor\u2019s insights or the wor\u00adship lead\u00ader\u2019s zeal. Like a duti\u00adful fan, we turn out for the game (Sun\u00adday morn\u00ading) and cheer at all the appro\u00adpri\u00adate places. But we don\u2019t call the coach after the game to con\u00adgrat\u00adu\u00adlate him or shoot the breeze. We don\u2019t invite him over for a vic\u00adto\u00adry bbq. That\u2019s the stuff a friend would do. <\/p>\n
We\u2019re just fans, so we go home and talk about how great the game was.<\/p>\n
And we miss out on some\u00adthing won\u00adder\u00adful.<\/p>\n