Friendship

Back when I was a Resident Advisor for the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity at Duke University, in addition to getting the free basketball tickets to see Duke play :-) I also learned a lot about friendship and its importance.

To this day I am good friends with someone who now works next to the Pentagon, is a strong Christian man, and all because we have made time for our friendship over the years.

Similarly, although the communication can be somewhat stilted, I am still friends with professors from Duke.

Stanley Hauerwas (one of my old profs . . .) in some of his work in Christian Ethics has pointed out that in the field of moral philosophy, friendship is a prominent, yet often overlooked theme. Aristotle, the ancient Greek Virtue Ethicist (and Natural Law philosopher who gave taxonomies of the various animal species) especially noted the importance of friendship.

From a Christian perspective, friendship is also vital. Jesus Himself one time said that "what greater love is this then for a man to lay down his life for his friends . . ."

So, how are you being influenced by your friends?

Is this influence positive or negative?

Also, how good of a friend are you being?

If a friend has just been laid off from work or suffered a horrific divorce, are you willing as a friend to stop and talk or even potentially pray with them?

These types of friends are the one who have "kept me going" over the long-haul and it is this type of friend that I always seek to be.

Blessings in Jesus,
Rob J. King, Friend of All, Love of Jesus my LORD and Savior