recently our church had a question and answer sunday and someone asked
me a question that feels relevant to all of us the question was this
is it bad to be friends with people who don't believe in god
i think about that one for a little bit
when i was a kid growing up in the church my pastor used to always say this one phrase time
and time and time again he would say show me your friends and i'll show you your future
right show me the people you're running with the people that you do life with and i can make a
a pretty good prediction like what direction your life is going to take
have you noticed that to be true i think sometimes uh the the dumbest things i've
done in my life haven't been by myself but been with other people who said do it do it
and i think of some of the most amazing things i've ever done haven't been just me by myself
but with amazing people who inspired me or led me or encouraged me so i love this question
if if you're a christian like i'm a christian if we want to glorify god with our whole life then
this is pretty relevant should we do life with should we be friends with should we invest tons
of time into people who don't share our beliefs or our values well today i don't just want to
give you my opinion on that question i want to share a few thoughts from this book from the bible
yeah in first corinthians the apostle paul was writing to a church that was dealing
with all kinds of problems some of which they received from their culture the friends around
them and in first corinthians chapter 15 the apostle paul addressed this issue he said this
do not be misled right misled like lead led astray do not be misled and
then he quotes from the old testament he says bad company corrupts good character
right how does a christian often end up misled doing things they shouldn't saying words they
shouldn't making choices that they shouldn't well the apostle paul says think about this do not be
misled bad company corrupts good character he goes on to say come back to your senses as you ought
and stop sinning for there are some who are ignorant of god i say this to your shame
yes so in one sense the apostle paul is picking up on a teaching that came up a ton
in the old testament book of proverbs some people live a wise life
and some people don't there's one proverb that says a companion of fools suffers harm
so just like your mama was concerned the kind of people that you became friends with in school
our heavenly father is concerned too he says be careful bad company can corrupt good character
like bad examples can lead even a good christian astray so you have to ask yourself serious
questions like are are my friends who don't share my beliefs in jesus my passion for jesus
are they influencing are they affecting me in a negative spiritual way
right so in one sense the bible would say uh should you be friends maybe not
but you know what i love about the bible is this beautiful tension that it so often holds
because there's passages like the ones that jesus spoke in matthew chapter 5.
remember these famous words he said let your light shine before others
that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father in heaven
let your light the light of god the light of your faith the light that you get from jesus
let it shine before others so that they can see the good things you do and glorify god in heaven
or think of jesus saying go into the world and preach the good news of the gospel to all creation
and you probably figured out the best way to preach the gospel is with people who know you
who may be like you who who trust you who who you've done life with and so you know the bible
has this big push too like yeah love the world i'm sure they don't believe in jesus yet but
god loves the world go love them jesus served people who didn't believe in him just yet so go
go serve people who don't believe in him just yet you know everyone is nice to their own people but
jesus calls us to be nice and kind and loving to all people even love your enemies he said
and so the bible pushes us almost to this extreme of showing god's unconditional love to people who
are so far from the things that we believe and the values by which we behave but if we let our light
shine before them maybe they're going to see our good deeds maybe they're going to notice our faith
maybe it's going to draw them to jesus and they like us will glorify your father in heaven so back
to the question should you be friends with someone who doesn't believe in god the bible's answer is
well
it takes a lot of wisdom you might have to ask yourself if someone's a bad influence that's
leading you astray you might have to be careful and end that friendship and maybe with someone
else you can be the influencer of them showing them the good deeds of god and the amazing savior
that we have should you be friends think deeply think biblically that's what the bible says
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