Holy Friendship

Looking for love in all the wrong places? Many have mixed up love and sex. Why settle for sexual satisfaction and miss an opportunity for love? Many think love is about marriage: that they go together like a horse and carriage, as the song goes. No. That's not it either. Marriage, done correctly, is filled with love. But loveless marriages show that the the horse can break free from the carriage. Some think love is a "feeling". Infatuation is certainly a feeling. Love is something more.

We're confused about love. Where can we find love? How do we show love? Some of the best loving relationships can come from friendship. I'm talking about "holy" friendship, the kind Jesus had for his apostles, and they had, eventually, for him. It is said that among men, friendship is only as deep as the conflict it is subjected to. The apostles went through it all and they had it all: fun, fear, disappointment, doubt, terror and deep love.

Friendship is open to everyone, not just the gregarious. Everyone. Cultivation of deep, meaningful friendships will cure most of our interpersonal problems, cure our obsession with sex, and can bring us closer to God, our father in heaven. From the scripture we are told that God is love and light. In Him there is no darkness at all.

How do you create a friendship of depth and purity? Include God in your relationship. God created us for relationship, with Him. Since the best way to get to him is love, the formula is simple. Show each other the love of God reflected through you. Voila! Deep, meaningful friendship. If you want to know what God's love is, see 1 Corinthians 13, then pursue the kind of friendships you were meant to have, that you were made to have.