Book Review: True Friendship by Vaughan Roberts
Ours is a generation that is struggling to maintain real relationships. We talk to each other by texting, marriages disintegrate because of poor communication, people are busy yet lonely and we all long for the kinds of relationships portrayed in sitcoms like Friends and Cheers. In a world where to be a friend means the click of a mouse button, comes this little book that helps us to think about true friendship. Vaughan Roberts is the Rector of St Ebbe’s Church in Oxford, England and a major international Christian speaker. In this little book Vaughan takes us to the book of Proverbs and calls us to examine our thinking on friendship in the light of the Bible’s teaching. He calls us to consider our thinking about friendship to ask whether we are constantly behaving like friends, whether we are candid and truthful in our friendships and whether we value and protect our friendships. He calls us not to overvalue friendships, nor to have expectations of our spouses or other relationships that are too high. He calls us to glory in the astonishing truth that we can call God friends through the Lord Jesus Christ!
It is a short read, (my teenage son read it in an hour) but in its brevity it calls us to consider a tremendously important subject!! Each chapter has study questions and so this book could easily be used for a small group discussion. Highly Recommended.
Review by Geoff Gertzen
Disclaimer: I have known Vaughan Roberts for over 25 years and consider him a colleague and a friend.