Friend of God

So I was thinking about what it takes to be a friend of God. I do not think that once you believe in Christ you are all of a sudden "a friend of God," since that phrase is not thrown around in the Bible and personally I have many acquaintances but good friends are always tough to come by and to keep.

So my first thought directed me to the idea that most people are friends with those that are similar to them. Similar ideas, similar backgrounds, similar approaches to the world, someone who doesn't cause a lot of conflict simply because of their different worldview. Sure, sometimes we have friends who are not a lot like us but I would think the majority are similar to us. Then I applied that to God. A friend of God is someone who is like God and actually wants God to be his/her friend. Why would I want God to be my friend if God is so way different than me? Why would I seek that out, especially if God views poverty, the human condition, politics, homosexuality, the need for urgency, etc differently than I do? (just examples) I would be the one, then, who is not putting forth the effort in the relationship as I am choosing who I want to be.

But then I thought about Jesus. Jesus was labeled "a friend of sinners." Hmm...how can a friend of sinners be a friend of God? Maybe it isn't fully about human personality traits and opinions that make someone a friend of God or not. I think Jesus was a friend of sinners because he honestly cared for them. How can he, being so holy and so different? I think he valued and cared for each person (maybe minus those who refused to stop being hypocrites - Pharisees, for example), and maybe he saw God's image in each of them (take a second to think about that). This gives me hope, as I can be a friend of God one day and not have to be exactly like God (yes!, I don't think I'm going to acheive that). Boy, there are a million thoughts on where to go on from here.

Anyone else have any thoughts?