Proverbs 1 talks about the young man who starts out walking with ungodly friends. Before you know it, that young man is no longer walking, but now, he's standing - he has stopped moving forward and he's now standing still - in the way of sinners. Then, the next step you see is that he's sitting in the seat of the scornful. He's now resting himself comfortably in the seat of those that don't love God.
This doesn't mean that we should avoid any and all who have bad habits, don't go to church, or smell funny lest these things wear off on us! On the contrary, we should be their friend. We should love them. Help them. Encourage them. But we should not ever allow them to be our friends.
What does this mean? How do you be someone's friend without allowing them to be your friend? You love them. You treat them the same as you treat everyone else. Invite them to your home for dinner. Introduce them to your friends that love God. Share the Gospel with them. Take them to church. But DON'T spend time at their home doing the things they like to do. You will soon like to do those things too. You will find yourself thinking they have more fun. You will find yourself wanting to be like them and before you know it, you will have become what they are.
It's so much easier to be pulled down than it is to pull someone up to where you are! My husband demonstrates this by standing on the platform at church and trying to pull one of the teenagers up. It's nearly impossible. BUT, if that same teenager tries to pull my husband down off the platform, he can - in mere seconds!!
We must be friends with those we want to see saved. We must NOT let them become our friends! We must influence them to do right. We cannot allow them to influence us otherwise.
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| photo credit |
To demonstrate this to my children and Sunday School class, I used a paper bag, a bunch of saltine crackers {you can use just about anything}, and several bananas. Put the crackers and the bananas in the bag and within hours the crackers will be smelling and tasting like the banana!!
It's a simple illustration to show children how they WILL become like the friends they hang around. We must guard against becoming too close with those who don't share our values and beliefs! We must guard our families!
Thank you for this blog! I stumbled upon it on pinterest earlier today, and I haven't been able to pry myself away (except to make dinner, of course). ;) I love how you are so firm in your foundation of faith and still kind and open to others. This has been such an edifying discovery for me! Thank you for following the promptings from above to be such a wonderful example to people like me. My hubby and I are still early in the season of our life as parents (we have a 10-month-old), and I've been trying to figure out how to raise my family in righteousness and be a better homemaker. I'm so excited to continue reading your blog! Thank you again!
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