Laela
Sidestepping the "lynch mob"
Wrong Relationships
Written by Mary Whelchel
Monday, May 21, 2012
Relationships are really important to us, aren't they? I think of the many wonderful relationships in my life and how those people have shaped my character and strengthened my walk with the Lord. Thank God for those relationships.
There was a period in my life when I walked away from my commitment to Jesus Christ and during that ten-year desert experience, most of the influential relationships in my life were detrimental to my spiritual life.
We need to be very, very careful about our relationships, the people around us, the people close to us, the people we listen to and try to please, because those people have enormous impact and influence in our lives and if they're the wrong people, our walk with God will suffer.
The children of Israel are good examples of how wrong relationships can be harmful. God told them that they must not associate with the idolatrous people of the other nations, because if they did, they would start to practice their evil ways. In other words, you won't bring them up to your level; they'll bring you down to theirs. That's just what happened time and again. God's children would try to make friends with idolaters and every time they got in big trouble.
In Ezekiel 20 God says to his people, "You say, 'We want to be like the nations, like the peoples of the world, who serve wood and stone.'" They had surrounded themselves with the wrong people and gradually, little by little, they decided they wanted to be like their friends and associates.
Ask yourself: Do my relationships enhance my walk with God? Are there people I voluntarily spend significant time with who are influencing me to deny, or compromise, or walk away from my commitment to Jesus Christ?
Now, we know that God has not called us to be isolationists. Jesus set us an example of being a friend of sinners, but we must carefully guard ourselves against relationships that cause us to compromise or lower our standards.
Proverbs 4:23 reminds us: "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." Your heart here refers to your mind, your attitudes, your opinions, your motivations. That would include everything and everyone that influences your heart and mind - guard it well, because it is the wellspring of your life - the source and supply of everything that happens in your life.
Guard it well.
Written by Mary Whelchel
Monday, May 21, 2012
Relationships are really important to us, aren't they? I think of the many wonderful relationships in my life and how those people have shaped my character and strengthened my walk with the Lord. Thank God for those relationships.
There was a period in my life when I walked away from my commitment to Jesus Christ and during that ten-year desert experience, most of the influential relationships in my life were detrimental to my spiritual life.
We need to be very, very careful about our relationships, the people around us, the people close to us, the people we listen to and try to please, because those people have enormous impact and influence in our lives and if they're the wrong people, our walk with God will suffer.
The children of Israel are good examples of how wrong relationships can be harmful. God told them that they must not associate with the idolatrous people of the other nations, because if they did, they would start to practice their evil ways. In other words, you won't bring them up to your level; they'll bring you down to theirs. That's just what happened time and again. God's children would try to make friends with idolaters and every time they got in big trouble.
In Ezekiel 20 God says to his people, "You say, 'We want to be like the nations, like the peoples of the world, who serve wood and stone.'" They had surrounded themselves with the wrong people and gradually, little by little, they decided they wanted to be like their friends and associates.
Ask yourself: Do my relationships enhance my walk with God? Are there people I voluntarily spend significant time with who are influencing me to deny, or compromise, or walk away from my commitment to Jesus Christ?
Now, we know that God has not called us to be isolationists. Jesus set us an example of being a friend of sinners, but we must carefully guard ourselves against relationships that cause us to compromise or lower our standards.
Proverbs 4:23 reminds us: "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life." Your heart here refers to your mind, your attitudes, your opinions, your motivations. That would include everything and everyone that influences your heart and mind - guard it well, because it is the wellspring of your life - the source and supply of everything that happens in your life.
Guard it well.