Jump to content
ClubAdventist is back!

Who Is Your Best Friend?


Dr. Shane

Recommended Posts

Years ago when I became the director of Men's Ministry at a local church, the pastor gave me a book he insisted I read before starting the position.  The book stated that most men have not had a "best friend" since either high school or college.  At least not one other than their wives and if their marriage wasn't good, she really wasn't a "best friend" either.  Mature men mostly have superficial relationships.  When they get together in church in Bible study they will discuss various doctrines and Bible stories but fail to become emotionally vulnerable with each other.  For many men, the only real emotional relationships they have are with their immediate family - wife and children.  

Proverbs 27:17 tells us that as iron sharpens iron, so does one man sharpen another.  There is a problem when the only people we are emotionally bonded to are those in our immediate family.  People outside our families bring perspectives, thoughts, opinions, past experiences, visions and such that sharpen us.  Yet, to really benefit from those people, we need to allow ourselves to become emotionally vulnerable with them.  Ideally, each man would have three to five friends, outside his immediate family, that he is emotionally vulnerable with.  Most men do not even know where to begin in building such friendships.  Coaching or counseling can help a person get started.  It would be nice if Men Ministries would put on workshops to teach men such skills.  It requires stepping outside of the comfort zone.  It involves risk taking and inevitably leads to some people getting hurt.  But it is a risk worth taking and when there is a painful incident, we inevitably learn from it and become better people because of it.

Pastoral Family Counselor... Find me at www.PostumCafe.com

Author of  Peculiar Christianity

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

If you find some value to this community, please help out with a few dollars per month.



×
×
  • Create New...