It’s wonderful to sit down with a good friend and learn from them. It’s just as valuable to be encouraged to take on a challenge or to be reined in and asked to reconsider the path I’ve chosen. A true friend usually has my best interests at heart.

Through healthy relationships, we flourish, discover our potential, are refined, and move forward. We are social beings who depend on connection. Without community, we wither inside. The Creator designed our souls for relationship. He wants to shape us because that is part of His plan. This is His gift of love to us. Jesus modeled community for us.

How do you nurture relationships? How do you live out your friendships? Is God at the center of them?

The Lord God said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.

Genesis 2, 18

Weekly text: 1. Samuel 18, 1–5