Choose Friends Who Follow Christ
When Laura and I were first married I decided I was going to hunt black bear with a bow and arrow. My Hoyt compound bow was the first quality piece of hunting gear I'd ever purchased. I had met 2 guys at the archery club who also wanted to hunt. We made a good plan. We decided to set up 3 stands in different locations and then we would take turns hunting whichever stand had bears coming in.
In those days, putting up a tree stand was a tremendous amount of work. Climbing the tree to get in and out of the stand was difficult, and to be truthful, dangerous. Bears came into two of the stands almost immediately. This was exciting news until the two of them got together and told me that they decided that I was not allowed to hunt their stands. I had been a Christian for almost a year, and had to fight my natural inclination to lay into both of them.
I was just out of the airborne infantry, and it was my strength and athleticism that was needed to put those stands up in the trees. They couldn't even have done it without me. God was teaching me a lesson that I had to learn several more times: "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers." In retrospect, I think that God was behind this because he didn't want me building close friendships with a couple of scoundrels with no integrity.
Joshua knew that it was better to stand alone WITH God than to stand with the crowd AGAINST him. He told the Israelites, "Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve... but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!" Friends, make no mistake, non-Christian friends will bring you down. The Word of God says clearly, "Bad company corrupts good character." Choose friends who follow Christ, and you will be blessed! -Pastor Brad
Written on November 5, 2025
Posted in Daily Devotions