Friendships Part 1

Yesterday I got a call from a college friend that I have not talked to in a really long time. It was so refreshing to reconnect with someone who had been a huge blessing to my life in college. It got me thinking about the importance of friendships.

As humans, we are created with a need and desire for friendship and relationship. When God created man in the garden he said that it was not good for the man to be alone. If he said that before sin entered the picture how much more important is it that we be connected with one another in healthy relationships.

One of the most dangerous traps that a Christian, or anybody for that matter, can fall into is isolation. Isolation is a subtle, yet deadly pattern.

Isolation is dangerous for at least 3 reasons:

We are more susceptible to discouragment and depression
See Ecclesiastes 4:9-10. When we have close knit friendships we can lift one another up in the midst of failure or suffering.

We are more vulnerable to temptation
See James 1:14. This is true because the more isolated we become, the less accountable we are to anyone.

The power of sin is in its secrecy
See James 5:16. We can't be truly healed without confession. We need people with whom we can make our struggles known so that they may pray for us and stand with us for victory.

We need friends who can speak into our lives and we need friends whose lives we can speak into. When we are connected with one another in true friendship we will be there to support one another in moments of greatest need. We need to be surrounded by those people who can lift us up when we are down and strengthen us when we are weak. We need to look for those that we can invest in and inspire to go higher.

We were not created to live in isolation. We were made for relationship with God and with one another. Regardless of how introverted or extroverted we are, we cannot afford to live in isolation from other people. We would be wise to follow the counsel of 1 John 1:7:

"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin."

Comments?