Passage of Scripture: Prov.
13:20
"Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of
fools suffers harm."
Friends are important. They are there to cheer you up when
you are down, to accompany you when you are alone. To laugh with
you, cry with you, hang out with you, etc...God knows that we need
friends. We were not created to live in isolation. We are to interact,
mingle, and associate with other people.
We have a lot of friends, if we count them all, we have friends
from elementary, highschool, college, friends at work, friends in the
neighborhood, friends in some other places, friends in facebook. A lot!!!
But not all of them are true friends. Not all of them are sincere
friends. Not all of them care for you. Not all of them love
you. Not all of them can be trusted. Some may even betray you. Some
may even push you down. Some may be in competition with you. Some
of them may hurt you…worst, some of them may want to see your downfall.
The Bible gives us insights on choosing friends. The Lord
loves us so much that He wants us to have true and sincere friends. That
is why He gives us guidelines to follow in choosing friends.
Our verse for tonight tells us to walk with the wise...it means
"choose your friends with care." Why? 1Cor. 15:33 says
"Bad company corrupts good character."
2 Cor. 6:14-15
"
Peer Pressure is a serious matter. Peers can be of great
influence to you...to your character. You become like your friends if you
keep on hanging out with them. The next thing you realize is you are
talking like them, dressing up like them and acting like them.
Tests of true friendship:
1. Does your friend help build you up in your spiritual growth?
Or does your friend pull you away from God? (1Thes. 5:11)
2. Does your friend tolerate your commission of sins/mistakes,
or does your friend correct you from it? (Prov. 27:6 "Wounds from a friend
can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.")
3. Does your friend rejoice in your success? Or does your friend
compete with you? (Phil. 2:3-8 but read only verses 3-5)
Elizabeth George said "In life there are three kinds of people:
those who pull you down, those who pull you along, and those who pull you
up."
You don't want to be with people who pull you down.
It is not wrong to have plenty of friends, in fact, we ought to
be friendly because we are the light of this dark world. But, our bestfriends
should be Christians like us. Those who believe in Jesus. Those who have
a personal relationship with Jesus because they are the ones who pull you
along, or pull you up towards Christ-likeness.
There are people who are sent into our lives for the purpose of
helping us in our spiritual growth, to help us through our difficulty, to
provide wisdom or to inspire us to stand strong in our faith at times when we
are weak.
There are times when we would need somebody to talk to. Always
talk to a Christian woman and not just to any of your friends. Why?
The Bible says "Get all the advice and instruction you can,
so you will be wise the rest of your life. You can make many plans, but the
LORD’s purpose will prevail.” Proverbs 19:20-21. You can only get good
advice and instruction from somebody who has Jesus in her life and somebody who
meditates and reads God's word day and night. She will only give you advice that are in line with God's will and purpose.
Always remember that most worldly advice contradict to God's
word, so make sure you go to the right person.
Do you know that Jesus considers you as His friend? John
15:13-15.
Our number one bestfriend must be Jesus. Look at what He did
for us when we were still sinners..He died for us because that is the only way
to save us from going to hell..without the death of Jesus we will never be
saved..and He called us His friends..
Be careful whom you talk to and consider as friends. You
don't want to end up being stabbed at your back by the very person whom you
trusted. Choose friends wisely on the basis of scriptures. It's
better to have no friends than to have the wrong friends.
Prov. 12:26 "The righteous choose their friends carefully,
but the way of the wicked leads them astray."
