Those We Allow

Those we allow in our lives says something about us.

We will become like those we spend time with, those whom are a big part of our life will influence our behavior. When we are not strong and bold, we are being changed by the evil person.

1 Corinthians 15:33
"33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.”

There are two reasons we keep difficult and rebellious people in our lives, the first is that we are afraid others will judge us for having boundaries concerning our friends, and the second reason is that a part of us likes the attention from our unruly friend.

If you think you cannot be influenced by your friends behavior, watch what you do when you are around them. Many people refuse to rebuke or correct in any fashion, their friends, thus becoming the supporters by silence, of the very things we do not agree with.

Some people are very proud of their silence as though it is godly, yes, the devil wants to convince you that silence to keep the peace is godly, but in fact it is playing into the hands of the one who rebels against God. There is a time for silence, however when we find ourselves remaining silent most of the time, then we know our friend is not a friend at all, but an emotional intimidater who has managed to gag us to be able to control us and everyone in their sphere.

When we remain silent long enough about things we disagree with, eventually we will become what we didn't approve of until our true self is lost in the shadow of the rebellious friend.

When we do not stand against sin and rebellion, our wicked friend is further empowered and the righteous side of us disappears.

This disappearance of self and support for sin, translates into loving our friend more than we love God. It also manages to support the actions of the evil one against others, so others are not very important either. Does anyone notice the lack of love for others demonstrated here?

Matthew 10:36-38 "36 A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’ 37 Anyone who loves his father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me; 38 and anyone who does not take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me.…"

The test of a true friendship is when we can stand for righteousness and our friend accepts it. When our friend can only love us when we think like they do, then there is no authentic friendship. The friendship is based on the believer remaining silent all the time, meaning the evil friend is continually being empowered to remain evil, while affecting the attitude and actions of the believer and others around them.

2 Timothy 3:5 tells us to get away from the evil people, if they will not leave, then we are to avoid them. We cannot always get away from family members who live with us, but we can avoid their tactics, remain strong and ignore their tantrums.

If you love God, speak up! You will lose friends until God replaces them with lovely people who agree with God. Don't miss out on the blessing of lovely God fearing people. The wicked friends in our life will often chase away the Godly ones. A Godly person has no desire to be with the wicked and their foolishness any longer than it takes to give them the gospel.

Friendships are based on mutual respect and love. When our friend shows us no respect, intimates they have no interest in our walk with God, even negating it, it is time to be alone for awhile as we wait for the friends God has for us.