Christian theology also offers an example of friendship as well as a foundation for love. Within the nature of the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are involved in a dynamic interplay—one God revealed in three persons, united and complete. In 1 John 4:8 we read, "God is love," but Aelred of Rievaulx (1109-1166) paraphrased the passage as "God is friendship," thus emphasizing the relational aspects not only of God's love but of the very nature of friendship. In this sense, then, true friendship helps us move closer to God and to his desire for us to grow and mature spiritually.

A proper Christian theology of friendship encourages the cultivation of long-term, enduring friendships, meaning they move beyond the superficial and into rich and meaningful interaction over a long period of time. Unfortunately, the contemporary world often makes it difficult to foster these kinds of friendships. More than ever before, the world is moving at metaphorically incredible speeds, as we travel at fast speeds, move from one area to another and perhaps live many miles from where we work.

Often we no longer know what it means to be part of a community or how to build theologically healthy friendships. Even the term friend is diminished, skewing our perception of what friendship should be in a biblical sense. True friendship does not exist for the sake of personal gain of any kind, other than the natural virtuous gain of being friends. In other words, friendships that are solely utilitarian—that is, those who are forged only to be useful to us—are not true friendships.

We should not seek friendships merely for personal gain or as some sort of technique that we may use for our own purposes. True friendship helps us in some small way better understand the goodness of God. Moreover, it's easy for us to establish and maintain friendship only with those who are more like us than not. Doing so will result in Christians having primarily or perhaps even exclusively Christian friends. As the example of Christ demonstrates, our friendships often need broadening.

Moving beyond our comfort zones in friendship will provide opportunities to not only grow in character ourselves, but help others grow, too.

Discussion Questions

1. What are some examples of friendship in Toy Story 2?

2. Mike and Sulley are best friends, but even so they face their share of difficulties. What sort of attitude is necessary to foster reconciliation? How does Mike go about reconciling with Sulley?

3. What role does love play in a biblical view of friendship? How is God involved in friendship?

4. In what way are we friends with God? Discuss the meaning of

Christ's sacrifice in relationship to love and friendship.

Taken from The Wisdom of Pixar: An Animated Look at Virtue by Robert Velarde. Copyright(c) 2010 by Robert Velarde. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press, P.O. Box 1400 Downers Grove, IL  60515. IVPress.com.