I was speaking at a large high school in Texas. After the assemblies I went outside to just chill and chat. I saw this guy that I just had to talk to. He said his name was Eddie.
Eddie was wacked. He had on shorts that came down below his knees with red and blue stripped sock that were pulled up over his knees. He was wearing a sweatshirt turned inside out with a stick figure sprayed painted on it. His hair was long and shaggy and stuck out from a knitted hat that hung down to his waist. I looked Eddie over and asked, “Why do you dress like this?” Eddie smiled and said, “Uh, dude, I just want to be different.” I looked over Eddie’s shoulder, and there were eight guys standing there that looked just like him. I said “How are you different? Those guys look just like you.”
THE WORD
You become who you hang out with most.
Jesus spent his days with the “sinners.” He reached out to them. The druggies, the whores, the drunks, the thieves, the bar hoppers, the lonely, the helpless – He wanted to touch all of them. He hung out in their neighborhoods and went to where they were.
But Jesus spent most of his time with twelve guys.
Out of those twelve, only 3 were in his inner circle.
Read Luke 9:29-36.
Did you catch it? God was about to show the world who Jesus really was. Jesus knew what was about to happen, and He took his best buds with Him. Peter, James, and John.
These guys were His closest friends. Jesus was tight with these three guys, because He knew they were sold-out followers. No, they weren’t perfect, but they believed Jesus and wanted others to know Him.
Did you connect the dots and see what is happening? Jesus’ best friends were Christians. Yeah, He would hang out with non-Christians, but the guys closest to Him were believers.
LIFE LINK!
Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”
(1 Corinthians 15:33)
THE THING.
FRIEND CHECK!
· Who are your best friends?
· Who do you spend most of your time with? Share your secrets with?
· Who knows you inside and out?
· Are the Christians?
· Are the sold-out, full-on followers of Christ?
See, all the disciples were followers. But Jesus’ best friends were not just followers; they were living in total abandonment, stepping off, and following Christ.
Ready for the hard stuff? Take a friend-ventory. If your closest friends are not believers, or they are believers but don’t act like it, you need to rethink the relationship. Read the LIFE LINK! verse again. How do you think that relates to your friends?
If your major pals are not Christians, they will bring you down. Hey the Word doesn’t say, “Good company will change bad character.” No, it’s the total flip side. The Word is truth. It’s real. Don’t ignore it just because it’s hard. Check your friends.
So what now? If you know that one of your deep friends is no following Christ with all they have, then you need to move them down on the friend chain. That doesn’t mean totally dis’ them and bounce them from the ranks of bud. What it means is stop spending so much time with them. You can’t open up your heart and ask for their honest advice, because what they say is not coming from God. Spend more time with solid believers. Get to know them in a deep core way so that you can help each other.
No, this isn’t going against what we said in the C.G.
Think about it. Connect the dots. Struggle with the idea.
Put them together and it makes sense.
Make sure your best buds are growing Christians so you can push each other to be like Christ. Then, when you hang out with non-believers, they can see Christ in you.
Make sense? Prove it by doing it.
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