How do you make friends? How do you keep friends? Is there a formula or technique for fostering good friendships? Here are some timeless biblical principles that work.

by Doug Horchak

Before one can expect to make friends, he or she needs to see the value in having them in the first place! The old song “No Man Is an Island” is true! People need people. Those who try to prove they don’t need others set themselves up for failure or disappointment in life.

If you are to make friends, you must value the need for them. The Bible uses the metaphor of the human body when talking about the closest of all friendship groups—the Church. The apostle Paul says, “And the eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’; nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you’” (1 Corinthians 12:21).

The point is, we are not made to be totally independent creatures! To be successful, we really cannot go it alone. A do-it-yourself attitude leads to a lonely life that often doesn’t work very well. From the beginning, God designed human beings to be social. Adam became lonely because there was no one comparable to him—which (among other reasons!) is why God created Eve!
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