Pressure From Others is not Commands From God

Next time you are pressured to remain with those who have rejected you, remember that Christ never ran after those who rejected Him.

 
Christ offered all He had to those who rejected Him, and they made their choice. Badgering them, following them, and remaining friends with them would have made no difference to them. It would not change their heart or cause them to self-reflect.

Family pressure to remain with those who have rejected Christ is not only not Biblical, but will diminish your walk with Christ, and He always comes first.

James 4:4 "You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."

Proverbs 22:24-25 " 24 Do not make friends with an angry man, and do not associate with a hot-tempered man, 25 or you may learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare."

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

Those who think the only way someone will like Christ is if they like us have way too high an opinion of themselves. We do not win people to Christ by manipulative tactics designed to woo them. We speak the truth to everyone, leaving all the results to the Holy Spirit. We show respect to those who did not treat us respectfully, but we do not maintain them as friends.

If someone is damaging to our walk with Christ and will not listen to reason, then we are to walk away and leave it all in God's hands.

 
To think we have any part in the salvation of someone else, other than the healing words of Christ, is to walk in pride. We are only messengers, not heart changers. Only Christ transforms the heart, and only if the person wants Him to do it.
We love others when they do not love us, but this is not friendship.

 
God made it clear that two cannot walk together who are not agreed. Amos

Romans 8:7
"because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so."

Our desire as born-again believers is to obey Christ, walk in His principles, and seek Him for everything in our lives. The person who rejects Christ will not want us to do this; they want us to walk as they walk, according to their fleshly desires.

 
John 15:18-19
"If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first. If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world."

We cannot spend a lot of time with those who hate us; it brings unnecessary trouble, diverting us from our calling in Christ.