Who Are Your Friends? - Evaluate Who Influences You

I want to share some questions with you today on what to consider when evaluating your current friendships and moving into new ones. But first, please know that I am NOT saying we cannot be friends with people that aren’t at the same spiritual level or maturity that we are or even people that don’t know God yet. It’s more a matter of who you allow to INFLUENCE you in life. And often, the people we spend the most time with happen to influence who we are & how we live our lives quite a lot.

But even Jesus spent time with some unsavory people who later called Him master. But the biggest thing we need to remember with Jesus is He was STILL able to have an unwavering commitment to righteousness & NEVER compromised His own values or committed a sin. Jesus had a steady focus on what He was here to do & not get caught-up, but we as fallen people cannot match that level or righteousness. We surrender our lives to God every single day to more and more mirror the image of Christ, but we still suffer from downfalls. So we have to be more careful than Jesus needed to be.

Luke 5:31-32, “Jesus answered them, ‘Healthy people don’t need a doctor-sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.’”

Here are 5 Questions I would ask myself when reviewing my current & future friendships to determine how viable they are:

1. Are Your Friends a Reflection on Who You Are Working to Be? 
   1. Are your friends similarly working daily to adopt the attitude of Christ?
   2. Proverbs 13:20, “ Walk with the wise and become wise; associate with fools and get in trouble.”
2. Do Your Friends Challenge & Support You? 
   1. Are you able to be yourself around them?
   2. Proverbs 27:17, “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.”
3. Do Your Friends Live to Please the World or God? 
   1. Who are they trying to impress?
   2. Romans 12:2, “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”
4. Are Your Friend Respectful of Your Values & Beliefs? 
   1. Even if there is a difference of opinion (Christian or not), is respect still present there?
   2. Colossians 3:16-17, “Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father."
5. Are Your Friends People God Wants You to Have in Your Life? 
   1. Have you prayed about it? 
   2. 2 Corinthians 6:17, “Therefore, come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord. Don’t touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you.”
   3. 2 Cor 6:17 (GW), "The Lord says, “Get away from unbelievers. Separate yourselves from them. Have nothing to do with anything unclean. Then I will welcome you.”

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