Choosing friends (part 1)

Proverbs 12:12
“The righteous should choose his friends carefully,for the way of the wicked leads them astray”.

Here is wise council from the Bible to be careful and wise in who we choose as friends.
* Why should we choose our friends carefully?
According to this proverb we are encouraged to choose our friends because wicked friends will lead us away from God’s way, they lead us astray.
In another Proverb (27:17) we read; “Iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friends”.
We all have influence on, and are influenced greatly by those closest to us, so therefore we must be careful about who, we as Christians spend a lot of time with.Psalm 1 warns us against the council of the ungodly, the path of sinners and the seat of the scornful, Proverbs 1:10-19 warns us against involving ourselves with sinners who would entice us into sinful and wicked acts and Proverbs 7:6-27 warns against sexually promiscuous relationships. [these are but a few examples of unhealthy friendships].
Those who are sinful, sexually immoral, divisive, slanderers etc will, if we give them high priority as friends, influence our thoughts and actions away from God and toward sin.

However, as Christians are called to admonish one another (Rom 15:14), Love one another (1 John 4:7) and to use our spiritual gifts and ministries etc for the benefit of all (1 Cor 12:4-7), our closest friends should therefore be spiritually mature Christians who evidence the fruits of the spirit (Gal 5:22-23) and who will, rather than draw us away from Christ, encourage us and help us to grow deeper in our love for Christ. And who will help us to use our own spiritual gifts and talents for the benefit and good of all. These ‘close’ friends should be a good influence on us, and we should find ourselves growing spiritually because of them, as they too should grow because of you!

We should consider our friends carefully because our Christian walk and growth with God may be at stake!