FRIENDSHIP

Today, I learned about friendship. In literature class (ugh) we talked about the characters in Julius Caesar. We discussed how Brutus made friends with the wrong people. Instead of hanging around those with the same virtues: honor, loyalty, service, etc., he chose to be with friends who had a bad influence on him. They pressured him into betraying one of his closest friends (killing him).

It reminded me of the situations we face every day. We all have friends, but how many of them are good for us? It's like eating food. The bad stuff usually tastes better than the good stuff. But eat enough of the junk food and eventually you become sick. The problem is, you can't stop eating it. You've become addicted to it, and it has become natural to eat it.

I have many friends. Five I consider to be my best friends. Two of them are part of The Three Musketeers, and the others live in Minnesota. They are the healthy food. Most of my other friends also fit into the healthy food category. I have several that I consider the "in between group". While not necessarily healthy, they aren't exactly junk food either. They aren't my first choice to hang out with, but I will if they're the only ones around. Then I have three friends who make the junk food list. I don't really go searching for them, but I willingly hang out with them some of the time despite how they've influenced me. Now, I'm not saying that they're bad people. I've known them long enough to know that they are capable of doing good things. Unfortunately, most of the time they talk about things that shouldn't be talked about, have bad attitudes toward school, and don't seems to try very hard. I must say that recently, I've seen one of them get a little "healthier". But they still have a ways to go.

The issue is whether or not to be friends with them. Having known them for many years, it's hard to imagine to just stop being with them. Part of me thinks that I'm now mature enough to resist their bad influences, but many times I have failed to do so. Another part says that I can affect them the way they affect me, only in a good way. Perhaps if I show them how beneficial it is to work hard, study hard, and do the right thing, then they'll change. Then I read the Bible it seems like the only choice I have is to end my relationship with them.
Here's a list of Bible verses to support this:
Proverbs 12:26
Proverbs 13:20
Proverbs 24:1,2
1 Corinthians 15:33

There are others, but these are the ones I choose. They all talk about choosing friends wisely and that junk food friends will affect your behavior. OOPS. Notice however, that the Bible just said not to associate yourself with them. It didn't say I couldn't try to improve their behavior. In fact, God loves it when we try to help others do what's right.

Right now, I think I'm going to slowly start to limit my contact with them. I'll do things like sit with someone else at lunch (if possible), don't hang around between classes with them, and don't stick around when they start talking about what class/teacher/homework assignment/person they don't like. At the same time, I need to increase by level of good behavior. I need to make sure that I have a positive influence on the junk food friends, but also on others lest they start to treat me like junk food.

Sorry about my rambling. I just felt like this was important to say. Hope you have a great weekend!