1 Cor 15:33, "Do not be deceived: Evil company corrupts good habits."
Show me your friends and I will show you your future! Who you are associating with are the same people you are giving permission to influence and navigate your destiny. The casualties are endless. From the businessperson who selected the wrong partner and went bankrupt to the troubled, soon to be in divorce court newlywed, who asked their thrice-divorced friend for marriage advice. Who doesn’t know teenagers who started running with the party crowd and found themselves imprisoned by addiction? The proof is undeniable. Shady relationships always suffocate wise decisions.
However, the opposite is also true. Befriending honest people, dating people who are chasing God or marrying someone with character and integrity will always bring lifelong benefits. A fulfilled marriage, a God honoring dating life, a successful career, or friendships that heal, instead of hurt are as simple as who you choose to let in the door of your life. Although a mob of different characters will ring your doorbell, only you can decide who is allowed to come in.
Once you sort through the currency of relationships there are only two kinds: counterfeit and authentic. One crowd love things and uses people, the other loves people and uses things. One group tempts, flatters, and tantalizes. They whisper compromise. They encourage immediate gratification. They deceive. The other crowd encourages and edifies. They promote integrity. They seek what’s best for you, instead of their self. They pray.
Wrong relationships pursue life like no one is watching, while the right ones are living like God sees everything. Because they know He is!
Are the people in your inner circle honest, faithful, worthy of trust, seeking to follow Christ? Are you becoming a better person and more dedicated believer through their influence? Do they cultivate your strength? If they are not, its time to reconsider the relationship.
The verse in 1 Corinthians warns against being tricked or deceived. This alarm bell must be sounding, because people have tendencies toward the belief that wrong relationships will not influence their good habits. I used to tell my mother not to worry about my troubled friends, because my positive influence would change them, instead of them changing me. I couldn’t have been more wrong! I was not only swayed by their habits, but they swept me under.
Ask God to bring people into your life that will help you and that you can help to become stronger and more Christ like.
Your relationships are pictures of your future.