God’s Gift of Friendship
Many people seeking spiritual guidance about feelings of isolation and loneliness discover a lack of genuine friends.
Friendship Love
I came to faith through a stranger’s love, and through that connection, I befriended another who became an added anchor in shaping my faith. After a cross-country relocation distanced us, I met a new acquaintance, which completed my Peter-James-John inner circle friendship like Jesus had.
Then, as now, I have other friends, but these three were dearest to me as they each, in different ways, profoundly affected the person I am in Christ today. I felt a soul connection with my inner circle. Something unspoken drew us together.
C. S. Lewis thought friendship existed in a nonmaterial reality or nearness to God. As Lewis saw it, friendship was as close to heaven as we can get in this world.
“Friendship is not a reward for our discrimination and good taste in finding one another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals the beauties of all the others to each.” — C. S. Lewis
Reciprocal Sharing and Caring
Friendship is a two-way street, a reciprocal sharing and caring for each other. It requires trust, love, genuine concern, and interest in others.
Relationships are not an event. Meaningful relationships take time and effort to nurture and grow.
A friend will trust you enough to be vulnerable to share honest feelings, but you can’t expect someone to share their heart while you sit back and give none of your own. You need to reciprocate.
R.E.A.L. (Respect, Encourage, Accept, Love )
REAL friends respect, encourage, accept, and love one another.
Respecting a friend is honoring your friend as one with irreplaceable value.
Encouraging a friend shares grace-filled affirmations to build confidence and strength.
Accepting a friend allows for imperfection with compassion and forgiveness without judgment.
Loving a friend wants what’s best for them.
Human Love
Friendship is a deep connection between two individuals, bound in ways that affect every aspect of their lives. All human love flourishes only in divine love. Jesus teaches us to care about others and share his love.
A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. (Proverbs 17:17)
There are 7.8 billion people worldwide. Your aim is not to have a friendship with everyone. Still, Jesus teaches we can have close circles of increasingly intimate relationships called friendship.
One of my friends is now in her eternal home. I miss her dearly and long for the day when we reunite. I’m grateful for her genuine friendship and how she strengthened my faith.
Divine Love
Though we may lose friendships through death, and some may splinter through imperfection, our hollow hearts will heal through divine love. Our most incredible privilege in life is to experience intimate friendship with Jesus and unite with others to follow him.
When God transforms our hearts, allowing us to love others the way he loves us, we are about as close as we get to the likeness of Christ. Friends stand firm and untie when they abide in Christ. Christ and the Father are one. All they see and feel fuse into one.
I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30)
St. Augustine said, “You only love your friend truly when you love God in your friend, either because God is in him or so that God may be in him.”
God connects all believers through an eternal relationship to strengthen one another’s affection for him. I’m not perfect at this, but I try to be REAL in my relationships because all encounters have eternal purposes. Strengthening each other with the promises of God equips us for our ongoing faith fight and brings us closer to Jesus.
But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. (Hebrews 3:13)
May God bless you with REAL friendships.
