We have all heard various idioms about friendship from “Lay down with dogs and you’ll get up with fleas” to “Show me who you’re friends are and I’ll show you who you are.” Truthfully, friends are important and who you choose to befriend is just as important. Friends act as your circle of influence and this is shown clearly in the Bible. Think on the friends you have, are they working on growing in the Kingdom or improving themselves as people? Do they reflect who you would like to be?
The above verse means that not only are your friends a reflection of you but that they can also build you up or impede your growth. Likewise, we can outgrow friends. If you want to move forward and better yourself there will be times where your circle of friends begins to shrink. This is not only true as you move to improve in the world with education, careers and the like. It is very true in the Kingdom. Most people think that they can make their friends righteous by association and while this can happen, more often the opposite occurs. They begin influencing you, and you accept the “little sins” and “tiny weights.” Before you notice it, you are lost somewhere you never intended to go and feel cut off from God. That is why we need wise counselors. And just to clarify, this doesn’t mean you cannot still spend time with them or talk to them but you do need friends who are where you want to be or striving to get there or else you will never get that far.
Don’t allow those around you to keep you from the Kingdom.
Just because you are someone’s friend doesn’t mean they have to be yours. Jesus tells us to treat everyone with love, kindness and respect. We are to forgive, encourage and edify. Of course, many in the world need exactly that kind of influence in their life which means that you may soon become very important to them, a friend and confidant. That’s great, it gives you more opportunity to minister but be careful. Many people who are still struggling with their own identities and lives can often take words and gestures in ways you never meant them and sometimes they are so busy working on themselves that they aren’t the most reliable. But that doesn’t mean you stop showing them love, it just means that you meet them where they are, as Jesus the Christ did and help them understand that isn’t where they have to stay. Just because you are someone’s confidant doesn’t mean they should be yours.
Proverbs 15:22
“Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established.”
King James Version (KJV)
Be that wise counsel so that others may grow and, with hope and prayer, be who God has created them to be. The above verse states that without wise people around you, plans fail. This is so true. Think of it this way, if you want to start a business but don’t know how to do it, you go to someone that does or learn via a website someone created. You can’t do it by yourself. Wise friends give good strong advice as well as encouragement in those times we feel lost and alone. I am sure that you have had good people who helped to push you into something amazing! Be that person to another! But don’t allow your circle to keep you from what God has for you.
Proverbs 22:24–25 King James Version (KJV)
24 Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go:
25 Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.
Don’t allow yourself to be tempted into sin because temptation is a snare and we think that it will come with a big red sign but that is not the case. Oftentimes, these temptations are shown to us by those we hold dear and we have to make the intentional choice to not fall for it and to learn to keep them at a distance, at least until you feel comfortable in your faith to not only be able to deny the sin or weight they may ask of you but to also help pull them out of it if led by the Holy Spirit.
Remember always to Rise Holy,
CSP
