"The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray." - Proverbs 12:26
Today's verse is God's call for us to think about our associations, not to get all uppity and condemning. But we are called to "choose our friends carefully."
As always, Jesus can help us think about this. In John 15:15, Jesus says, "I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you."
Friends share something in common. Friends in Christ share a relationship with God the Father through God the Son by the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Think about it for a moment.
When Jesus died for us to forgive our sin, he changed our life for the better. He then calls us to live differently. To live thankfully. To live like God's forgiveness changed our lives in a way that nothing else could. To live for God.
"Choosing our friends carefully" means we're looking for friends with whom we share the most important things in common. If what's most important for us is living thankfully to God, why would we be friends with someone who doesn't live thankfully to God? Yes, Jesus ate with tax collectors and "sinners," but it was always for the purpose of bringing them to share in God the Father's business of changing lives and bringing them to a new life with God. In other words, Jesus didn't eat with sinners to share in their business and become a sinner.
And hold on a minute before you get stirred up because I realize we're all sinners.
But here's the deal. Let's be honest. Most of us think that being someone's friend is accepting them the way they are. In other words, the whole matter of changed lives never comes into play.
But Friends, and I am indeed calling you Friends, our business is the only business that changed our lives, namely, the life-changing work of God in Christ. Oh sure, we all have different jobs. We're not all preachers. But our jobs are the place that God planted us to be about our ultimate business. Be ye an accountant, a vet, a dentist, a teacher, a parent, a cafeteria worker, we are called to do our jobs so that Jesus and his life-changing work touches others.
And we rejoice when we find a Friend who understands that. With such a friend, we might gripe about the boss, but the last thing we do is pray for the boss and for God's help for us to work so that the boss is drawn to Christ. With such a friend, we might share the things that weren't so pleasant that day, but the last thing we do is rejoice in the amazing thing that God did that day which trumped all the others.
Christian friends look for and talk about the work of God through Christ by His Spirit in the lives of people.
People who don't share Christ in common, well, they just gripe and gossip.
It's a lot to chew on. It would probably help us if we had a Christian friend to help us chew.
Think about it.
"The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray." - Proverbs 12:26
Praise God!
Pastor Chris
"The gospel is the story of Jesus [what God's only Son has done for us that we can't do for ourselves], spoken as a promise." - Robert Jenson
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