AVOID THESE PEOPLE AS CLOSE FRIENDS
Lazy People.
2 Thessalonians 3:6 (TEV)
Our friends, we command you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to keep away from all believers who are living a lazy life and who do not follow the instructions that we gave them.
Angry People.
Proverbs 22:24-25 (TEV)
Don’t make friends with people who have hot, violent tempers. You might learn their habits and not be able to change.
Immoral People.
1 Corinthians 5:9-11 (TEV)
In the letter that I wrote you I told you not to associate with immoral people. Now I did not mean pagans who are immoral or greedy or are thieves, or who worship idols. To avoid them you would have to get out of the world completely. What I meant was that you should not associate with a person who calls himself a believer but is immoral or greedy or worships idols or is a slanderer or a drunkard or a thief. Don’t even sit down to eat with such a person.
Greedy People.
Proverbs 23:6-7 (NIV)
Do not eat the food of a stingy man, do not crave his delicacies; for he is the kind of man who is always thinking about the cost. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.
Unbelieving People.
2 Corinthians 6:14 (NLT)
Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers. How can righteousness be a partner with wickedness? How can light live with darkness?
PLEASE NOTE: The list above represents people who should NOT be our close friends. However, it is very important that we love everybody! Jesus actually commands us to love each other:
John 13:34-35 (NLT)
So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
There will be people in our life that are angry, lazy, immoral, greedy, and unbelievers; but they shouldn’t be our closest friends. When they have needs in their life, we should do our best to help them out. When we have an opportunity to show them love and be patient with them, we need to.
Remember what Proverbs 12:26 says; “a righteous man is cautious in friendship.”
Check back tomorrow when I’ll share about the 3 kinds of people you SHOULD choose as CLOSE friends.
Also, for further reading, consider the book Best Friends Forever, by John Townsend. It is a great book and a fast read on the topic of developing great friendships for life.
This series; “Improving Your Relationships” was inspired by my study of the small group curriculum Transformed – How God Changes Us.
Series Links
Click the link below to navigate to another post in this series:
- Improving Relationships Part 1: https://wp.me/pajKXW-gI
- Improving Relationships Part 2: https://wp.me/pajKXW-gL
- Improving Relationships Part 3: https://wp.me/pajKXW-gN
- Improving Relationships Part 4: https://wp.me/pajKXW-gR
