Just who are those friends anyway?

 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”1 Corinthians 15:33


When I was young, still in school, I had two really good friends.  They were my "best friends" and we hung out together at school and in the summer.  I had other friends in school, boy friends, girl friends, friends in various classes and groups, but these two were my "best friends".  And they were Christians.  
Because they were Christians, I could be myself.  I could tell them anything and I knew they would always be there for me. Many of my other friends were not Christians and so I behaved somewhat differently around them and was uncomfortable in large groups of them.
Today things are very different.  I still have a couple of close friends that I trust and can turn to in times of need, but then there is Facebook - oh how I wish it had never been born.  My so-called "friends", some of whom I have never met, post their political beliefs (that I didn't ask them about), pictures of their hospital visits, injuries, meals, (all of which I don't really care to see), their opinions about other people, their fights, their likes and dislikes, they share things from others who are not my "friends" that are full of vile language, and they say things I don't think they would ever say in person (at least I hope not).  



 How many "friends" do you have on Facebook?  Do you think about who they are and what they believe?  Do you think seriously about what you post and share and who is going to see it?  Even employers check Facebook these days to see what kind of people we are. As Christians we need to consider these things and how they affect our faith and our witness.

A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24

Have we been waiting all this time to have a way and a place to spill our guts?  Do we really feel better when we do? Wouldn't it be better to take everything to Christ who is the friend who sticks closer than a brother or to our Christian friends who will bear our burdens with us?

 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. Galations 6:2

Christ encourages person to person contact but we are hiding behind the Facebook veil.  I understand that it is a great way to connect with family and to find friends from the past.  Are we using it correctly?  With great effort, I have tried to contain my Facebook page for this blog to Christians and yet I see advertisements and shared posts that are not in line with Christ's example.

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. Hebrews 10:24-25

As Christians, we should spend more of our time doing as the authors of Hebrews and Galations suggest.  I know that Facebook is not going away any time soon but I am encouraging my brothers and sisters to use it wisely and to not make it your sole mode of friendship and communication.  What percentage of your day is spend on Facebook? Is God speaking to you through it or is His voice drowned out by the masses?


Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare. Proverbs 22:24-25


For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? Luke 9:25



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