Devo Monday//Friendship

In this day and age, teenagers a lot of times, classify themselves with their friends.

So if you have a lot of friends, you are popular, no matter how good or bad they are for you, or how well you know them. 

That societal norm is rather unfortunate, and it leads countless young people down paths where they would never go if that hadn't had that influence on them... if that makes sense. 

You feel?

I'm not really sure what we can do about it, other than to not classify ourselves or others by popularity, seeing as we're all equal people. 

Aaaaaanyway, Proverbs 27:17 says "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another."

From a Christian mindset, that means that people influence one another, so we should surround ourselves with people who won't influence us to be sinful or tear us down. Instead, have encouraging friends that will help you grow in your walk with God, and you can help them in return. THIS DOES NOT MEAN that you should only be friends with those that share your beliefs. Sometimes to grow your faith you have to be challenged, and besides, you can't make disciples of people that already are. Make good friends, with people that won't hurt you all the time. And remember to have community and fellowship with other believers as well. Christianity is based on relationships with Jesus first, then others. Make friends and make them well :) Have a great week