Spiritual friendship — deep personal friendship based on the work of Jesus in our hearts — is an overlooked blessing in today’s shallow, “Facebook-Friend” world.
Scripture values deep, spiritual friendship far more highly than we Westerners think or even imagine.
In the days the book of Proverbs was written, family was the culture’s highest value, higher than wealth or status. And yet God spoke counter-cultural words into that society when he said, “A man of many companion may come to ruin but there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother” (Pr. 18:24).
Closer than a brother! That is how Scripture–God Himself–values friendship.
Eugene Peterson wrote this about friendship:
“Friendship is a much underestimated aspect of spirituality. It is every bit as significant as prayer and fasting, as in the sacramental use of water in baptism and the use of bread and wine in communion. Friendship takes the common and turns it into something holy.”
This online course was originally given at a men’s retreat high in the mountains of Colorado. But it is designed equally for women, and it only came about after Gary and I spoke with women about the need for deep Spiritual friendship in their lives.
If you have a few friends, or a small community group, we encourage you to go through this course together. It is our pray that your group of friends grows deeper in the mutual exploration. But it is also designed to be taken individually, as a kind of prayerful meditation on the Biblical plan of friendship.
In this course, we hope you too shall come to value and experience deep, spiritual friendship, and that you will grow in discovering, nurturing, and offering it.
Gary and Sam
++++++++++++++++
