About Companionship

by N/A | Category: For Young Believers | Jun 1951

One of the snares the Devil uses to trap young believers is that of evil companions. Doubtless you will have learned already by experience that the company you keep affects your spiritual life. At school or at work you are thrown into the company of many whose influence would lead you away from following the Lord. Sometimes a veneer of "human niceness" deceives the young believer, and before he is aware a friendship develops which may greatly hinder his spiritual growth. We cannot, of course, avoid contacts with unbelievers, but we must be ever on our guard against their influence. Do not misunderstand me. I am not advocating a pharisaical "'I am holier than thou" attitude. That is to be deplored as much as undue familiarity. What we need is the spirit expressed in the words' of the well-known hymn:

"A mind to blend with outward life

While keeping at Thy side."

The safest and wisest course with those with whom we come in daily contact is to let them know at once exactly where we stand. Do this humbly yet decidedly, but be careful to live up to your profession. If there is opposition take it patiently. Do not retaliate. Count it an honour to suffer reproach for the sake of the Name.

Of course you long for fellowship with those like-minded to yourself. When the apostle wrote to Timothy about the correct behaviour of the young in the house of God he used terms which indicate that assembly relationships are to be conducted on the lines of family life. In the social sphere the family is the model for the assembly. We are to regard ourselves as brothers and sisters in a large family. We should be a very happy family and this should be the ideal before us in our assembly life.

Now for a word of warning. Sometimes friendships, even between those in the Fellowship, are marred by undue frivolity and idle gossip. We need to be on our guard against such things. Take stock occasionally and enquire, "Are my friends being edified and uplifted by my friendship?" Remember, too, that a true friend does not flatter when rebuke is necessary,-" Faithful are the wounds of a friend." Many helpful words about friendship are to be found in the book' of Proverbs. Let the Psalmist"s resolve be ours-" I am a companion of all them that fear Thee" (Psalm 119. 63).

N/A | Jun 1951
For Young Believers