BE CAREFUL WITH WHOM YOU ASSOCIATE

Proclamation:

"In the name of The Lord Jesus Christ ... keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received ..." "... Do not associate with them ... Yet do not regard them as an enemy, but warn them as you would a fellow believer."  2 Thessalonians 3:6 and 3:14-15 (NIV)

Explanation:

These words were written by the Apostle Paul under the influence of The Holy Spirit of God in a letter to the believers in Thessalonica.  Paul told them not to regularly associate with non-believers and those who repeatedly engage in sinful behavior.  They were to warn them, gently, of the consequences of their actions and then leave them alone.

Application:

We have no control over who our family members are, and we have very little control over who our coworkers are, but we choose our friends.  Some of the friends that we had earlier in our lives are not close to us now as we have grown apart.  Some of our friends still partake in the sinful behaviors that we, with the help of God, have put behind us.  It may be time to put those friends behind us also.  Christian believers are to separate themselves from, and not to regularly fellowship with, the habitually disobedient believers and from non-believers.  Do not hang out with or frequently interact socially with the blatantly sinful, non-believing individuals or with believers who live a pattern of life that is not conforming to The Word of God.  We are to warn them, in brotherly love, of the consequences of their behavior and their non-belief, but we are not continue to walk with them.  "Can two walk together, except they be agreed?" (Amos 3:3)  We need to be careful regarding the people that we choose to "walk with".  Who our friends are says a lot about us.  If we are not strong enough to pull them out of their sins, we need to leave them before they pull us into their sinful behavior.  It has also been said that silence is consent.  Just being there with them, and saying nothing while they sin is for us a sin of omission.  To the world, we will be seen as committing the same sin, or at least condoning it.  “Birds of the same feather will flock together.”  The Bible teaches us to avoid sin and to abstain from all appearance of evil. (1 Thessalonians 5:22 KJV)