Wanna Know Your Future?

I was interning this summer at a church in Florida and the pastor there had a saying he would quote often to the youth group. "Show me your friends and I'll show you your future." I had heard it before as I was growing up in a youth group but I never thought about it. The more I work in various youth groups or just hang out with different students, the more I see the truth behind this simple statement. I have seen students that were not on the right track socially or spiritually begin to hang out with other students that were truly on fire for the Lord. Over a short period of time I see how the students begins to change. They come to church more and get involved. They seem to have a deeper relationship with the Lord and long for more of Him all because of the change in their friends. Sadly I have seen the opposite effect happen exponentially more often. A student on fire begins to hang out with the wrong people, maybe for good reasons like trying to bring them to church or share their faith, but they end up doing the things they do and backing away from God. Friends are important. They shape who you are whether you want them to or not. That is why it is so important that we choose our friends wisely.

A great example of hanging with the right crowd is found in the book of Daniel. In the very first chapter we see how Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah stood together against kings order for them to break the laws of God.

⁸ But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. ⁹ Now God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel, ¹⁰ but the official told Daniel, "I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men your age? The king would then have my head because of you."

¹¹ Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, ¹² "Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. ¹³ Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see." ¹⁴ So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.

¹⁵ At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. ¹⁶ So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.

¹⁷ To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds. (Daniel 1:8-17 NIV)

Daniel and his friends were brought along with other Israelite boys to Babylon when their homeland was defeated in battle. They stuck together and it made it a lot easier to stand up against the official that was set over them.

Another example is found two chapters later in Daniel 3. I wrote about this story in an earlier blog. Daniel's three friends are caught not bowing to the image that the king had set up. The king calls them in for one last chance to bow or be thrown into the fiery furnace. This was their response:

¹⁶ Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. ¹⁷ If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. ¹⁸ But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." (Daniel 3:16-18 NIV)

These three Israelites are found together again standing for what is right while surrounded by people who aren't. They stuck together. This is where the application comes. Standing for God is a lot easier when you have friend that will stand with you. Find people who are striving to do what is right, people who have the same standards and beliefs as you. Stick with them and challenge each other in the faith. Now don't take this as me saying that you shouldn't talk to anyone that is not a Christian or who isn't like you. That would not be at all what God wants. As Christians we are to be in the world, interacting with the world, trying to reach the world, but not of the world. We can and should have relationships and friendships with those who aren't Christians, but those people should not be our closest friends or the people we hang out with the most. Our closest friends should be those who are challenging and pushing us to be closer to God. They should be those who will stand right along side of us when we stand for what is right and godly. Because if we are only hanging out with the world, how can we be surprised when we start living like the world?

So I end with this. What does your future look like?