Caution on company

 

Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.” 1 Corinthians 15:33 ESV

            There are those who claim to be friends and are not. They claim to have your best interest in mind, but they do not. Indeed, they cannot serve your best interest for they do not know God, or fear Him. They are then fools biblically speaking Proverbs 1:7, and will eventually put you in harm’s way Proverbs 12:6, 26, 13:20, etc.

            We need to be careful to ground ourselves in God’s truth via God’s word Psalm 1:1-6. This will be our anchor to keep us from being pulled off course by those who go astray and would have us go with them. We must not go with them past the boundaries of obedience to Christ Proverbs 1:17, Matthew 5:30. Beyond these we put ourselves at risk of harm in every way. It fails to warn your companions of the same danger. It fails to acknowledge God. No good comes from this.

            Make no mistake that holding the line of obedience may cost you the friendship, but it is necessary to maintain your witness, and the consistency of your witness is most important. Consider that unless the unsaved friend comes to know Christ the friendship shall inevitably meet its end on the day of judgement Revelation 21:8. In maintaining a Christian witness by refusing to join in sin, condone sin, or endorse wrong thinking we are loving this lost soul in the truest and fullest sense whether or not they esteem it. If we walk with them down the road they are on, how will they see there is a better road? If we agree with all their thoughts, how shall they come to know the truth? And if we walk their path and agree with their thinking, where shall we find ourselves? In such a case who are we really following?

            Now beloved, there may be some who say that if they lose their straying friends, they shall have no friends. For some it is strayed souls who seem most to care and comfort, and it is hard to walk away, or even to risk the loss of this when it seems there is nothing else for us. Well might we question the worth of such care and comfort; but instead, we offer a truth to those who fear the loss. You shall have Christ.

Prayer

            Father, grant us wisdom to stay on the right path no matter who would entice us to leave. Let us love enough to speak the truth in love, to act out the truth in love even when it is hard, and ill received. Give us friends who follow Christ well and truly, and anchor us in Your own word. All this we ask for the sake of Your glory and the good of our souls, and those souls which are dear to us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

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