Biblical Friends

More Than Just Morale Builders?

Our world is lonely!

Depression is at an all-time high. Technology has only proven to compound the issue. If anything, what we have come to know is that our modern lifestyles do not work to build deep and lasting friendships with one another; they actually work against what is necessary to build such meaningful friendships. We are over-stretched, over-stimulated, and over-scheduled. Between family commitments, church, work, and our children’s extracurricular activities, there simply is not enough time left in the day to develop and nurture deep, lasting friendships. Small talk with coworkers is hardly what we truly long for in a friend! To be sure, even the slightest interactions can at times brighten our day. Yet God created us for more than just superficial social ties. We need true, biblical friendships.

We live in a world that longs to be noticed, liked, retweeted, and followed. Yet in our search for significance, the depths of our relationships have plummeted from great depths to surface level and superficial.

- C. H. Barnard

If we were to poll people in the American West, we would discover that the vast majority of self-proclaimed evangelicals have few, if any, true biblical friends. For sure, we have several who make us laugh, who help lift us up when we are down, who help bring a smiles to our faces or boost our morale. But is that all a friend is supposed to be? Is that all that you are to offer your friends in a relationships with them?

I think there are several things biblically that will help us see that true biblical friendships are far more than surface level interactions with one another. True Biblical friendships are a glorious thing, yet they must be fervently and furiously fought for, both to be built and protected.

True biblical friendships help us as believers cling to Christ, who alone can save the soul. True biblical friendships help remind us that it is worth laying down all things in order to follow Christ. They call us to place all of our affections on Christ and on things that are eternal.

Below is a list of ten attributes of true biblical friends. To be sure, the list could be much longer, but I think this list is nonetheless a helpful start to the conversation between yourself and your friend group. Ask yourself when working through each attribute, “Am I this to my friends?” and “Are my friends this to me?”.

True Biblical friends:

1. Intercede for us in our weakness (Luke 5:18-19)

2. Encourage obedience to Christ (Heb. 10:24)

3. Speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15)

4. Help expose sin in our lives (Prov. 27:6)

5. Are quick to forgive (Eph. 4:32)

6. Help bring out our best (Prov. 27:17)

7. Deepen our joy in the Lord (1 John 1:7)

8. Help to deepen our love for the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31)

9. Desire to present us mature and complete, lacking in nothing (Col. 1:28)

10. Desire, above all, our salvation (Rom. 10:1)