Friendship vs. Fellowship

We all have acquaintance-friends and then we have those real-friends. Those are the people we talk to about life, seek out for encouragement, truth and prayer. But how often do our acquaintance-friends turn into those real-friends. We all know that the acquaintance-friendships we have are different then the real-friend-fellowship we have. That can be for many reasons like the length of time you've known each other or the particular season of life that you're in. However, more than commonality, fellowship happens when people with the same heart begin to build a relationship. Fellowship is a biblical term that means intimate spiritual fellowship. A bond that can only stem from God, in light of the communal relationship between the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). Since we have been created in the image of God, we have been designed with the desire for genuine fellowship. Due to the fall (found in Genesis) sin entered into the world, breaking the original fellowship between Human/God and Human/Human. But, since Jesus made a way to enter back into that sweet fellowship with God, he also made it possible for believers to experience fellowship with each other. Catherine Parks, in her article 'Why Are All My Friendships So Shallow?' continues to look at Friendship vs. Fellowship, the tendency of hiding from fellowship and how sin looks in light of Godly fellowship. To read the entire article (which you totally should), you can click here!