Friendship with God

Many people claim to be friends with some superior person, but not many claim to be friends with God. The idea of friendship with a being that is superior in every aspect is a frightening concept in some ways. How will one be reciprocal or at least attempt reciprocity with a God that "owns the cattle on a thousand hills"¹? How is a relationship possible with a God that is omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent? It will be the purpose of this paper to show that friendship with God is possible and that this friendship is a leading motivator toward "Spiritual Formation".

To begin with, we will make some basic assumptions. The first assumption will be that "God is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him"². The concept of God as presented in the Christian scriptures will be the bias of this work. This paper will ascribe masculine gender when referring to God as is the practice of Christians through out their relatively short history. In referring to God, it [is] intended to mean, "Jehovah, The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the only true and living God, the Father of Jesus Christ the Righteous One". Without first clarifying that a relationship with the almighty God is not only possible but also attainable, the following dissertation would have no premise. God does reward those who seek him by allowing them to find him. The second assumption will be that God has made all the arraignments necessary for a right and proper relationship to be established him and humanity. This would include but not be limited to justification, adoption, and regeneration. The third assumption is that friendship with God is desirable. It is important to understand that friendship with God is desirable because many approach God for only what they can receive from him selfishly in spiritual blessing and other temporal benefits not for the sake of true relationship.

Aristotle's concept of friendship includes the concept of love that is priori. He wrote, "...friendship seems to consist more of loving than being loved"³. According to Aristotle, the mark of a true friend is someone who will love even when not reciprocated. M. Scott Peck wrote in his book The Road Less Traveled, "Love is desiring the best good of another and then doing everything in your power to see that best good accomplished"⁴. This would appear to concur with Aristotle's view that friendship. The friend that loves because they desire the best good of another is a true friend. It is important for the reader to understand that this is exactly what God did toward us. He has done everything in his power to see our best good accomplished. We needed so much by way of forgiveness and cleansing to make it possible to have a relationship with a Holy God. God accomplished everything to make restoration and relationship possible. This included the incarnation, humiliation, suffering, a cruel death on a cross, and taking on a body for the rest of eternity. The price of love was extravagant.

The questions then become are human beings willing to reciprocate that kind of love, to what lengths are we willing to go to be extravagant towards God, are people willing to "seek God's best good, and then do everything in their power to see it accomplished"? For us to be true friends with God we would have to adopt the position of extravagant love. For humankind to be willing to go from selfish love to selfless love is the part of the genesis of spiritual formation. It appears that most people want something from God but are only willing to give minor concessions back to God. These would include but not be limited to church attendance, perfunctory prayer, begrudging service, and the like. Instead of this kind of concession, for us to be a friend, we should be willing to reciprocate tremendous sacrifice for and to God. For our love to be genuine, we have to look beyond ourselves and yet look inside as well.

It is important to understand that a proper self-love is vital to being a good friend. Aristotle wrote, "The defining features of friendships that are found in friendships to one's neighbors would seem to be derived from features of friendship toward oneself"⁵. He further writes, "For the excellent person is of one mind with himself, and desires the same things in his soul"⁶. He believed that to be a friend, the individual needed to be a friend to self and be at peace or one mind with self. Many people do not like themselves for various reasons and that self-loathing hinders their ability to be a friend. It is important to recognize that if we are to reciprocate friendship with God we have to begin to be a friend to ourselves. Taking the time for proper nutrition, exercise, and rest are a good place to begin being a friend to self. Once we have established a friendship with ourselves, the next step is to extend that friendship to others. However, is it possible to be a friend with someone or some being that is far superior to us? We will attempt to answer that question as we progress.

Aristotle wrote, "Friendship, then, consists more in loving; and people who love their friends are praised; hence, it would seem, loving is the virtue of friends. And so friends whose love accords with the worth of their friends are enduring friends and have an enduring friendship. This above all is how unequals as well as equals can be friends, since this is how they can be equalized"⁷. He believed that love was the equalizing factor between friends. Therefore, love, as defined by M. Scott Peck, directed by God toward humankind and humankinds love directed toward God, creates an equalizing effect. It brings both parties to common ground even though humans are inferior to God.

The earlier statement that humankind must be willing to go from selfish love to selfless love as part of the genesis of spiritual formation is foundational to our understanding of friendship with God. We have to be willing to reciprocate selfless love. Spiritual formation is a journey that begins with our awareness of spiritual need, continues until our last moments on this earth, and very well may go beyond. The process contains many elements, in fact too many to delineate in this paper. However, from the point of awareness of need, to salvation, to consecration, to sanctification, an important development needs to take place for spiritual formation to progress. We need to go from seeking and receiving from God (infants), to as much as possible giving back (maturing) in our friendship. When we are involved in a friendship with God, we need to be willing look beyond what we need and seek to be useful to him.

Friendship with God motivates Spiritual formation in the following ways. When we enter into friendship with God, we want to emulate his character. We want to become like him, pure and holy. We want to be "formed" in his likeness. We want others to see Christ in us. We want to hide behind him so to speak so that he is primary. When we enter into friendship with God, we want to be like him. We want to emulate his love and compassion. We emulate his love when we sacrifice for his "best good". We want to reciprocate his actions toward us. We want to give back to him in a sacrificial way. The bible tells us that whenever we give unselfishly to others we are giving back to God. We enter into friendship with God when we enter into friendship with his children. A vital part of spiritual formation is giving to others and being a true friend as expressed through our actions.

This [thesis] demonstrates that friendship with God is not only possible but that friendship is a key motivator toward spiritual formation.

¹ Holy Bible, New Revised Standard Version, Psalms 50:10, Nashville: Thompson Neilson, 1996, c1998.
² Ibid. Hebrews 11:6
³ Terrence Irwin, Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics, Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1999, p.128.
⁴ M. Scott Peck, The Road Less Traveled, New York: Touchstone, 1978.
⁵ Terrence Irwin, Aristotle: Nicomachean Ethics, Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1999, p.141.
⁶ Ibid p.142.
⁷ Ibid p.128.

---

Bibliography

Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version, Nashville: Thompson Nelson, 1996, ©1998.
Irwin, Terrence, Aristotle - Nicomachean Ethics, Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1999.
Peck, Scott M., The Road Less Traveled, New York: Touchstone, 1978.

blog comments powered by Disqus

< Prev