CHOOSING OUR FRIENDS
“Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me.” Psalm 101:6
This great Psalm deals with matters of personal separation and holiness. David begins with the question, “O when wilt thou come unto me,” followed by a statement of commitment, “I will walk within my house with a perfect heart.” (Psalm 101:2). The majority of the remaining passage has to do with acquaintances or associations. In summary, David vows that he would not know a wicked person, would have nothing to do with a slanderer, or one with a proud heart or a haughty look. A deceitful worker would not dwell in his house, and a liar would not be allowed in his presence.
In contrast to his separation from the wrong kind of influences, David says that his attention would be on the “faithful of the land,” and he would serve with those that “walketh in a perfect way.” David knew that one key to having a righteous walk with the Lord is CHOOSING OUR FRIENDS carefully.
I remember many years ago when I heard a godly man say to a group of teenagers, “You become like those you associate with.” Like David, we need to be cautious about the selection of our friends. Of course, we all know that we are to witness to and seek to win all those we can. To do so, we must be friendly and courteous to all. However, we are not to make close friendships or alliances with those who are not going the same direction that we are spiritually. David excluded many types of individuals from those he would spend his time with and chose rather to develop closer friendships with those who were godly and spiritual. We may even have to exclude people as friends – some who claim to be Christians. This is a common area of failure among both young and old. People choose friends based on their personalities, popularity, or hobbies. They build friendships based on common interests or activities. There is nothing wrong with having friends that we share things in common with, but those should not be the only factors considered.
We should make certain that those we are more closely associated with share similar spiritual goals and priorities. In seeking to position himself in a way that God would bless him, David made definite decisions about those with whom he associated