In today's devotion will address the need to avoid bad company. The verse we will look at is 1 Corinthians 15:33
33 Do not be deceived: "Bad company corrupts good morals."
What a powerful impact bad company can have on our walk with God. It can take a person who has good morals and cause those good morals to be weakened. Don't let yourself be tricked into thinking you are steadfast and can't fall. Don't be tricked into thinking you can keep the wrong kind of company and be unaffected. Obviously the potential is there to be tricked in this area otherwise the Bible wouldn't say, "Don't be deceived..." If we have that mindset that our walk will be fine while we keep bad company then we are deceived and our walk will suffer.
And don't think that all of your Bible learning will prevent you from drifting. The bad company will outweigh your wisdom and knowledge and understanding. Remember that God granted Solomon great wisdom but that wisdom did not keep him from turning to other gods. And why did Solomon turn to other gods? It was because of the wives he married. His wives were a source of bad company. Their company corrupted his morals and turned his heart away. The passage that tells us about Solomon's wives corrupting him is found in 1 Kings 11:4
4 For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.
This teaching must be kept in balance. On one hand we need to avoid bad company. And on the other hand we need to be around those that are not healthy spiritually in order to show them love and share the gospel with them. Ask God to show you the proper way to keep this balance in your situation.
Scripture quotations taken from the "NASB" (www.lockman.org)
God bless
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THIS IS THE TRUTH, PEOPLE NEED TO BE SELECTIVE OF WHO THEY ASSOCIATE WITH. DON'T LET DEVILS INTO YOUR INNER CIRCLE! THEY'LL CORRUPT YOU JUST LIKE A BAD APPLE SPOILS THE WHOLE BARREL.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this. I was just talking about this with a friend last week.
ReplyDeleteThis is a hugely important message, especially to the new believer.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was saved I'd believe pretty much anything that a 'mature' Christian would say to me. Moreover, there were a couple 'Christians' in my church who'd latch-on to the new believer to so-say 'come along side them' or mentor them. In reality it was far from this.
The sad fact was that they were actually seeking positions of influence to fuel there own ego and desire for 'status'. The reason that they targeted the new Christian was that the older, wiser Christians had become wise to them and weren't able to be hoodwinked so easily.
It took me a couple of years to figure them out and when I tried to retract myself from the relationship as their 'fruits' were definitely not of Jesus, the knives really came out.
In short, if they are not manifesting the right fruit, give them a wide berth.
If, for example, you were looking to learn the piano but the 'friendly' piano teacher couldn't play a note, then you'd go elsewhere.
Or...
If you were being giving diet advice from someone who weighed 500lbs, you'd probably want to stay away from them too.
The people who I'm referring to were no more 'qualified' to 'teach' Christianity than fly a Boeing 737 and if, when the next time I travel, I see them sat at the controls on the flightdeck, I shall be taking the bus.
Stick with the winners!
Dave