Who is in your in-group?
Who do you spend significant amounts of time with? Whose values do you
share? Who influences you most, and on whom do you have the most
influence? Who is it you want to please? Who are your friends?
To see a person’s
friends is to see what that person really values and what their future will
likely entail. God knows how impactful friendships can be, and gives us
His wisdom for how to choose confidants. In 1 Corinthians 15:33 He warns us
that, “…Bad company corrupts good morals.” (NASB) Which means that having
friends who have bad character will affect a person’s own heart and
behavior. Why is this true? Because in the give-and-take of
relationships, people end up trying to please each other. If a teen’s
influencers are ungodly young people, they will surely make it easy for him to
do wrong and even to justify it. (Prov. 28:24 shows an example of one’s
person sin making it easy for his friends to sin in another way.)
Thankfully, Godly
friendships are possible! The Psalmist who composed Psalm 119 prayed two
times about godly friends. In verse 63, he writes of how he is living out
his commitment to the Lord, “I am a companion of all those who fear You, and
those who keep Your precepts.” In verse 79 he asks God that “…those who
fear You turn to me, even those who know Your testimonies.” There is much
to gain from the fellowship of those who delight in living for God: those who
love God, His Word, His people, and those who are doing everything they can to
help others find salvation.
Paul instructed the
Corinthian Christians, “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what
partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light
with darkness?” (2 Cor. 6:14) Truly, it is impossible for light to stay light
while accommodating itself to darkness.
Do you love the Lord?
Do you want to live for Him? Where do you want to be spiritually in
ten years? Proverbs 13:20 says, “He who walks with wise men will be wise,
but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” Are your current
friendships conducive to a close walk with God, or are the individuals you’ve
gathered around you helping you to slip away from Him? (Please also read
Psalms 1 & 26.)
New American
Standard Bible (NASB)
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
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