The French literary icon and war-hero, Antoine De Saint Exupery, once wrote, “Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward in the same direction.” This reminds me of our study from last May when we studied the remarkable friendship that flourished between Jonathan and David. In 1 Samuel 18 it describes their friendship in terms of Jonathan’s soul being knitted to that of David’s. This notion of one soul being knitted to another is describing a deep attachment. The deepest bond described among human beings in the Bible is that experienced in marriage, where two people are joined together by God so that they actually become one new person. This description of friendship—two souls being knit together— falls short of that kind of bond, but only just barely. It describes two people who remain separate individuals, but their souls are tethered by invisible chains of admiration, shared values and those mysterious, indefinable traits that draw friends to one another. It is significant that the Bible says it was their souls that were knit together. This isn’t just a deep attachment, it is an attachment formed at the deepest, truest part of who they were. They didn’t just find common interests or a shared hobby or a similar upbringing. They see things the same and they hold their convictions with the same spirit, and at the center of it all— the sun around which this friendship orbits— is a shared passion for God and His people. If this is true for a friendship like David and Jonathan’s than it is certainly also true for our marriages, which represent the highest form of friendship. The deepest, soul-knitting kind of friendships are formed around shared passions and a shared treasuring of what is most important. The prophet Amos posed the question, (Amos 3:3), Can two people walk together without agreeing on the direction? This Sunday I hope you can join us for the final message in this four-part sermon series on marriage, which I have entitled, “Looking Outward In the Same Direction.”