{"id":6390,"date":"2025-10-05T20:12:47","date_gmt":"2025-10-05T14:42:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ksrini.life\/29035f-co-nz\/journal\/?p=6390"},"modified":"2025-10-05T20:12:47","modified_gmt":"2025-10-05T14:42:47","slug":"friendships-bettermen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ksrini.life\/29035f-co-nz\/journal\/friendships-bettermen\/6390\/","title":{"rendered":"Friendships: Bettermen"},"content":{"rendered":"

What does the best kind of friendship look like and can I have it?\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0For the last couple of weeks,\u00a0 we\u2019ve been talking about the friendship gap in men and how to close it in your life.\u00a0Real friendship for guys seems to be at an all-time low. We need to overcome the isolating influences of our technology-shaped and individualistic society.<\/p>\n

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But today, let\u2019s go back to the original design. What about when everything was perfect? In the Garden of Eden, Adam was created without flaw and had not yet fallen from God\u2014but still missing was something. \u201cIt is not good for man to be alone, God said\u201d (Gen. 2:18). If a perfectly created man was designed for and needed friendship, how much more do we?<\/p>\n

Our society can make you feel like a loser if you\u2019re missing out on friendships. Or you might tell yourself that you\u2019re doing just fine. You\u2019re self-driven and have a huge network from work, your fantasy league and group of gamers. You may be Mr. Family, keeping busy with the kids, their sports and your house or yard\u2026leaving no time for consistent friendship. But in reality, you\u2019re missing something we\u2019re all\u00a0designed\u00a0<\/em>for, friendship.<\/p>\n

The 5 Levels of Friendship<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the last two blogs, I talked about distinctive Levels of Friendship and covered Levels one through four. I\u2019ll save you a click and put them all here:<\/p>\n

Level 1<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Casual Friendship \u2013\u00a0 A guy you\u2019ve met and may or may not remember his name.<\/p>\n

Level 2<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Basic Friendship \u2013 You act friendly, barely connect, and only talk about the usual surface level stuff. .<\/p>\n

Level 3<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Good Friendship \u2013 You\u2019re close enough to joke around.. There\u2019s some trust, but also some caution so you\u2019ll only open up a bit. He knows a few things about you, but nothing really deep or private.<\/p>\n

Level 4<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Strong Friendship \u2013 You trust each other. You\u2019d call the other guy in a 2am crisis. You occasionally talk about meaningful parts of your life, but aren\u2019t in touch consistently…<\/p>\n

Sadly, some guys don\u2019t have a Level 3 friend and many men don\u2019t have a level 4 friend. That\u2019s reflected in surveys that show 76% of men don\u2019t have a close and trusted friend they can share anything with. Modern life can keep a guy digitally occupied with work and entertainment, but effectively isolated, lonely and unknown. But realize this, level 3 and 4 are the building blocks to develop the highest level friendships – Level 5.<\/p>\n

Level 5 requires a consistency and authenticity that are out of place and uncommon in our culture. Insecurity and fear make men uncomfortable going there. But it\u2019s the kind of friendship that Jesus modeled. The kind of friendship we were designed to have.<\/p>\n

Mike Woodruff is a friend, pastor and author on friendship. He points out:<\/p>\n