Friendships - Choose Wisely

Godliness is perhaps the essential ingredient for building lasting, deep, God-ward relationships between men.
Without godliness, the temptation will be toward worldliness, sin and hostility toward God. Proverbs warns, "Do not make friends with a hot-tempered man, do not associate with the easily angered, or you may learn his ways and get yourself ensnared" (Prov. 22:24-25). The Apostle John pens another strong warning. "Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world — the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does — comes not from the Father but from the world" (1 John 2:15-16). For this reason, the Lord commanded the Israelites to put to death their "closest friends" who secretly enticed them to worship false Gods (Deut. 13:6-10).
Friendship either powerfully strengthens or corrupts our worship of God. So godliness in our deep friendships is essential. Consider carefully the psalmist's declaration, "I am a friend to all who fear you, to all who follow your precepts" (Ps. 119:63), and the wisdom of Proverbs 12:26, "A righteous man is cautious in friendship, but the way of the wicked leads them astray."