“Don’t let anyone deceive you. Associating with bad people will ruin decent people” (1 Corinthians 15:33).
Do you know why your parents want to know who your friends are? Because they care, that’s why. Their most important job is to teach you everything God has done for you. God also gave them to you because he knew you’d need someone to help you learn how to make good choices, how to become a responsible member of society. (Be honest-- f you could, you’d eat pizza and ice cream for almost every meal, you’d skip school, and you’d never clean your room.)
That’s why they are also absolutely interested in the people who influence you. Do you spend the majority of your time with people who encourage you to follow God’s laws? Or do you hang out with people who care more about themselves? Do your friends gossip about or bully other people? Or do they say, “Hey, that’s not right. Don’t talk that way”?
Don’t be fooled. The kids you hang around with now help determine what kind of adult you’ll become. Choose wisely.
(By the way, this isn’t a new idea. In today’s passage, the apostle Paul was quoting a poet named Menander who lived three hundred years before Jesus was born.)
Chomp on this!
Have everyone name three friends.
How did they become your friends?
Do they help you make good choices or do you get into trouble when they are around?
