Friendships are important. With friends, we are able to do a lot of things, achieve great feats, and even stay on the safe side of making decisions. Yes, having friends is a good thing.
One thing that's more important than having friends, however, is having the right kind of friends. Not all friends are good for you. There are some who would influence you to do things you'd later regret, things you wouldn't do if you were left by yourself.
At other times, there are those who pose as your friends but are actually just up to get something from you – they have their own hidden agendas for befriending you. Do you know how to spot the difference?
The Right Friends
Dear reader, I am not trying to influence you to be sceptical and cautious about your friendships to the point that you'd rather not have a friend at all. But the truth is that it would always be better to have no friend with you if that friendship won't even be good for you.
The Bible cautions us against having a common ground – a friendship – with the wrong people. While the right friend can help you in your relationship with God and others, the wrong friend can slowly drain you and take advantage of you without you knowing it
Here are some Bible verses that will help you choose the right friends, and discern the wrong ones.
On Wrong Company
1 Corinthians 15:33 – "Do not be deceived: "Bad company corrupts good morals." (MEV)
Proverbs 22:24-25 – "Don't befriend angry people or associate with hot-tempered people, or you will learn to be like them and endanger your soul." (NLT)
2 Timothy 3:1-5 – "Know this: In the last days perilous times will come. Men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, slanderers, unrestrained, fierce, despisers of those who are good, traitors, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying its power. Turn away from such people." (MEV)
James 4:4 – "You adulterers and adulteresses, do you not know that the friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God"
Choose Your Friend Wisely
Matthew 7:15-20 – ""Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruit. Do men gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit. But a corrupt tree bears evil fruit. A good tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a corrupt tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore, by their fruit you will know them."
Friendship With God
John 15:13-16 – "Greater love has no man than this: that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. I no longer call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I have heard from My Father have I made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that the Father may give you whatever you ask Him in My name."
Blessings For A Friendship With God
Psalm 1:1-3 – "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season; its leaf will not wither, and whatever he does will prosper."
