Posts Tagged ‘reveal’

“One who is righteous is a guide to his neighbor, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.” Proverbs 12:26

“If one friend tells you a guy is the wrong one, twenty are thinking it.”

I heard this many years ago. It is still true today. We must choose our friends wisely. This is more important if it is a man we may marry.

Christian Friends

Shortly after I became a Christian with many unbelieving friends, I heard a man teach that a Christian’s best friends should be other Christians.

At the time I didn’t get it. In fact, I was appalled by the suggestion that I would have to get rid of my non-Christian friends. He stopped me and explained he did not mean that at all. He said that our best friends should be Christians.

The people closest to us have the most influence and sometimes even power, in our lives. They are the ones that can help us or hurt us. Proverbs 12:26  is making the same statement. Our righteous friends will be our guides, wicked friends will lead us astray.

A friend used to say it this way, “When a white gloved hand is dipped in tar, the tar does not get ‘glovey.’”

In our pride we somehow think that we will be the strong person, that God’s warning about the harm of wicked people does not apply to us. God’s word always applies. No loopholes. No special exceptions. Devoted Christian or extreme atheist, it applies. God reigns over all, not over some.

Why Listen?

So why, as His children, do we not heed His warnings and listen to Him? He always has our best interests at the heart of His instruction. Sometimes a person may need to see that we will give up even them to follow Jesus.

Love can be blinding, pride can be hard to swallow, but a relationship that leads us into evil or misery can be more difficult to recover from as time goes on.  Even if we don’t participate in evil, we may still become its victim.

We may not see the “wicked” side when someone is working to impress and draw us into a relationship. If we marry him, go into business with her, or maybe just go on vacation with them, whatever – eventually, we will see it and then it will be much harder to get away from.

So, if a righteous, Christian [friend, family member, or mentor] warns us that a “friend” is more wicked than upright, more leading us astray than guiding us aright, listen carefully. That righteous adviser is trying to catch you before you fall. If you doubt her, pray. Ask God to reveal the truth about the person and the relationship in question.

If HE says (s)he’s the wrong one and you should get out, will you get out?