READ: 2 Peter 2:7-22
“Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” – 1 Corinthians 15:33 (NIV)
After you are born again, a great change will come into your life if you change your friends. One of the things that greatly affect your ability to exhibit great change is your group of friends. Your friends are with you throughout the week. You may spend only two or three hours in church every week but you may spend over thirty hours with your friends in the same week. Obviously, your friends will influence you far more than the church does. The one who spends more time with you influences you more.
It is important for you to change your friends now that you are born again. If you maintain the old friends, I can assure you that you will backslide. When I got born again, I had a whole lot of friends from the world. After I got saved, I realised that it was not going to be possible to maintain these people in my life. Gradually, every single one of them disappeared from my life.
Occasionally, I meet some of these people in town. They are like strangers to me. I do not know where most of my old friends are. I do not have anything to do with the old crowd. My new friends are Christians. After you are born again, there will be no change in your life if there is no change in your friends. Show me your friends, and I will tell you all about your spiritual state!
How can you continue to be friends with the liars, the thieves, the fornicators and the adulterers of this world? How can you be pure if you maintain all these friendships? If you keep your old friends, you will look foolish whenever you try to do what is right. How long can you last, looking odd in the midst of unbelievers?