Often when I am speaking with an inmate about the crime they committed, they explain their actions by saying, “I just fell in with the wrong crowd”. While it is true that people we are around can negatively influence and tempt us to do what is sinful (“Do not be deceived. Bad company ruins good morals.” 1 Corntihians 15:33) ultimately we partake in what is sinful because we are “carried away by our own desires and enticed” (James 1:14).
Yet, God does not want us to seclude ourselves from non-believers, for the Apostle Paul once shared, 9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world.”
The Bible is filled with verses that acknowledge that we will be around sinners, and that we can engage with them with the hopes of leading them away from sin and towards God, but not at the cost of us compromising our own walk with the Lord. So the believer must learn how to not become corrupted by those who are given over to sin. Much of this ability will come from God, who can bless us with wisdom, strength and understanding. Jesus is our example. He said that He came to seek and save the lost, and he spent time among sinners, even breaking bread with them. Yet, He never gave Himself over to their ways, but instead called them to repentance and faith in God. May these be our goals as well.
God wants His people to be holy, for He is holy. He knows we can get close to others who negatively influence us. When Israel was headed towards the promised land, He said to them,” 3 Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, 4 for they will turn your children away from following me to serve other gods, and the Lord’s anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you.” He then goes onto say, “6 For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.” Christians are now God’s treasured possession, for He has chosen us, and He wants to see us live God-glorifying lives. He does not want us to be “snared” (Deuteronomy 7:25) by the godless attitudes and practices of others.
This week, perhaps you would like to pray about this issue. Ask yourself if your style of relating to those who don’t know the Lord is to “leave the world” behind and stay with those who think and act like you. We all need to ask God to break our hearts for the lost. We need to pray for wisdom about how we can be in the company of those who don’t know God, and be a light to them, without having our own light extinguished by following in their ways. We need to pray that God would be our strength, so that we could be in the world but not of it.
During the time of His earthly ministry, Jesus prayed for His disciples about this.
14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.” John 17:14-16
This is His prayer for us as well.
For Jesus,
Rob