Friendships Part 2 - Be intimate

Intimacy

Perhaps the greatest inhibition to deep friendships among men is this scary "I" word: intimacy. What man doesn't get slightly clammy and light-headed at the mention of the word — especially when the object of intimacy is another man! The word itself has been so associated with femininity that it seems to be the direct opposite of manliness or masculinity.
And yet, the Scriptures hold out plentiful examples of deep friendship between men without even the hint of the feminization of men. In other words, the problem with intimacy between men is in our heads, not rooted in reality.
The most powerful example of deep friendship evidencing this kind of intimacy is not the friendship between David and Jonathan, but the friendship between God and Moses. Exodus 33:11 records this striking assessment of God's relationship with Moses: "The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend." This description is powerful because the "face to face" nature of it, its intimacy, is embodied in that one word at the end of the sentence: "friend." Somehow, even if we've never thought of it, we know the intimacy meant to be conjured by this word. We know that "face to face, as a man speaks with his bank teller" or drive-thru window attendant or co-worker doesn't carry the same force. When our Lord called his disciples "friends" (John 15:13-15), could he have meant anything less than intimate affection and care?