Hanging with the right crowd

1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”

“Do you know how hard it is to be good?” This was a question that my 4 year old grandson asked his mother. Now after I quit laughing, I suddenly realized that his question was absolutely correct.

It is easy to let others influence you into doing things you should not. We, as parents, try to teach our children right from wrong, but we can only go with them so far. We eventually have to let them grow up and venture into the world alone.

We can only hope we have distilled in them the correct values and morals. When we associate with or take delight in the company of people with worldly morals, we run the risk of mimicking their behaviors, their language, and their habits.

It is only a matter of time that we will be corrupted into bad judgment and behavior. The only way to combat this is surround ourselves with people of good character.

So who are these people of good character? Generally it will be those who attend church, but you must be careful there as well. Judas was one of the original 12 that Jesus took under His wing to teach and he eventually fell in with immoral people and greed got to him.

So, who should I hang around? Best answer for that is ANYONE who has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. You see, if you have a relationship with Jesus then you will want to be like Him. But you have to continue to hang out with Him and those who seek Him; otherwise you too could be swayed by the world.

If you have a relationship with Jesus, then God is on your side. If God is on our side, who can be against us?

Psalms 118:6 The Lord is with me; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?

Romans 8:31 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

Parents keep taking your children to Church, as there is no better influence than expose them to Godly people and to God Himself.

You want what’s best for them, don’t you? You make them go to school in order to make them smarter, right? Well the same should apply to church. They may say, or even see you say, I don’t feel like going to church today. Do you say okay, don’t worry you can stay home. What do you tell them when they do not feel like going to school? Okay, why don’t you stay home and play? NO! We send them anyway, because education is the key to gaining knowledge, learning to interact with other people, and to get them out of our hair! Am I right?

Well you need to treat Church like school, because that is what it is: The school of moral learning. Besides, we as parents need the reassurance of others as well to maintain our good character.

So the question still is being asked: “Do you know how hard it is to be good?” It is actually easy if you have God on your side.