Summary: Lasting friendships require a willingness to go deeper- even when it’s not fun. Inviting realness and authenticity into your friendship allows deep roots to grow. The main distinction between a “polite friendship” and a “deep friendship” is competition and comparison. If you are truly in someone’s corner, and you are showing up to the friendship with a desire to see Kingdom come in that person and in that friendship, your friendship will have lasting roots of authenticity and respect. And unless you have surrendered every bit of personal gain to God, the competition will try to find a way into your friendship. Just a little spark of competition can poison an entire friendship. At any point, you could choose to be jealous and competitive within a friendship. Or, you could choose to see the gold in your friend the same way God sees it. When you see your friendship as beloved, you are cultivating freedom, depth, and a relationship unlike anything else in this world. Furthermore, God will bless you with the gift of truly seeing his goodness unfold in something and someone so close to you.
