Choose Your Friends Wisely!
Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits. 1 Corinthians 15:33
The scripture does not say good habits help evil company. It says “Evil company corrupts good habits.” When you give your life to the Lord, you are called to “abstain from every form of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:22). This includes anything that may be a temptation for you to walk outside of God’s plan revealed in His Word; your friends, partying, shows, movies, music, language, drugs, etc.. If you think it is the Lord’s will for you to continue to party with your friends in hopes that you can convert them, you are deceived (James 1:22). The Lord may tell you to spend time with someone still engrossed in sin, but that will not include sinful activities. Be aware that the enemy will use relationships to try and keep you or pull you back into sin. As believers we must choose to either follow God’s ways or the world’s ways. We cannot have both. James 4:4b says, “Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
Proverbs 27:17 says, As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.” This scripture works great if you get 2 people focused on the principles of the Word of God. However, according to 1 Corinthians 15:33 above, if you get a believer and non-believer together to fellowship around sin, the believer will be sharpened in the things of the world and not in the ways of the Lord. Again, the Word says to abstain from evil, not to associate with it. I have never seen a white shirt come out on top of the laundry washer battle with a red sock. You can run this scenario 100 times. The red sock never comes out white. The white shirt, most likely, will come out tainted and pink. If people around you are choosing to practice sin, do not associate with them. Their ways will rub off on you. Proverbs 13:20 says, “He who walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.” Surround yourself with believers that are doing the Word, that will sharpen you in the ways of the Lord.
