Bad Company

Bad Company

2Th. 3:11 For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly,
working not at all, but are busybodies. Now them that are such we command
and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat
their own bread. But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing. And if any
man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company
with him, that he may be ashamed.

In this walk, we run across people all the time. Some we encourage,
witness to, and lead to Christ. Some we befriend and keep close, others we
deal with for a season and God moves them on. We must be careful to hear
God about our friends. The enemy will put certain people in your life or
keep certain people in your life just to frustrate you. Even though they
will call themselves "friend" they may be more of a stress factor. We
sometimes feel that it is our God given duty to keep everyone that is
claiming to need help around us. But that is not the case. There are some
you can help and there are others you can't. So, you have to be strong
enough to tell some folks "Bye Bye!" No hate, no malice, no hard feelings,
just plain old "Good bye!" Do not live your life in bondage to bad friends.
Those relationships can be just as bad as an abusive spouse. The wrong
friend can cause you grief. Smiling in your face and tearing you down
behind your back. Using you for what you have accomplished and riding you
into their 15 minutes of fame! Undoing all the other relationships you had
because they want to be your focus. Always hearing and listening, but never
coming to the knowledge of the truth that you are sharing with them!

I think one of the worst things about the new internet craze myspace is
the misuse of the word "friend". Christians have secular, sin promoters on
their pages listed as friends. They have their famous idols and worldly
counterparts listed on their pages as friends while these people do not
even believe the bible and desire to promote that which is ungodly? Yet
many christians for the sake of acceptance and promotion will befriend the
unsaved and inadvertantly promote their agenda with their pages. This
happens in real life too. So called believers unequally yoked with folks as
friends. Sure you want to reach the lost and be in position to win them to
Christ, but the true definition of a friend is "a person attached to
another by feelings of affection or personal regard" A christian that has a
bunch of unsaved friends that will not accept the Christ in them is a sign
of weakness and low self worth. You must not continue to surround yourself
with ungodly people if you are Godly. Sure we reach the world and Jesus did
eat with sinners, but only to reach out to them and not for friendships! He
had 12 friends that believed as he believed for the most part and that's
who he chose to attach himself to. And if you have an unsaved friend that
doesn't desire God or even to know God then you must reevaluate that
person's place in your life. Believers beware! Some folks are just not
gonna get it! Some people are just not gonna add up to what you are
expecting. Some people are just not gonna be healthy for you to embrace.
So, get Godly boldness and separate yourself from them. If you don't have
the courage to, there is a prayer that I have prayed since I was a teenager
and it's fool proof. It works every time. Pray, "Lord, take away those that
are not suppose to be in my life, and add those that should be!" Works
every time. But be careful with this prayer. Sometimes, family members,
folks you have known all your life, and even Pastors/church folks will
disappear from your life! But God knows and will add to you whom he will
if you let him.

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