The key verse reads in The Living Bible: “Don’t envy godless men; don’t even enjoy their company.”  A Christian can quite easily be misled by ungodly company if one doesn’t take care to define one’s life by the boundaries of God’s Word. The Bible warns us not to desire/enjoy the company of the godless!

1 John 1:5&6 says, “…God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.” God’s children are children of the light and cannot get along with works of darkness. So then what does light have to do with darkness? what does righteousness have to do with wickedness? What does believers have to do with unbelievers?  (Refer 2 Corinthians 6:14). Often people try to strike a balance but fail miserably! As darkness is the opposite of light, works of darkness are not fitting for a child of God. The Bible repeatedly warns believers that is impossible to serve two masters! (Matthew 6:24). If one succumbs to the works of darkness, he will surely become enslaved to the evil one.

Paul exhorts us in Romans 12:2, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world!” Now why does the Bible keep remind us of this over and over again? If we are not careful we can get into the mould of the world such that one day we will become like one of the world! 1 Peter 5:8 it says "Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." And failure to be on guard will lead to one's downfall!

Let’s look into the life of Samson in Judges 16. Samson loved a pagan woman whose name was Delilah. As the lords of the Philistines approached her to bring Samson down, she agreed with them in exchange for money. Samson eventually fell into the trap by letting out his secret to her which led to his downfall! He was seized, blinded and bound by the Philistines. Samson an anointed man of God was defeated! As it says in 1 Corinthians 15:33— "Bad company corrupts good character."  The life of Samson reminds us that we ought to be careful of the paths and the kinds of people we choose to walk with. If such company cause us to deviate from God, we are to refrain from it.

On the other hand, the desire to be with godly people will help you grow closer to God. In the story of the paralysed man (Mark 2), he was carried by his friends on a mat as they tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles, right in front of Jesus. His friends brought him to Jesus who healed him!

When we have surrendered our lives to Jesus and have agreed to walk a life acceptable to God we need to take measures to ensure we do not deviate from God’s path we chose to take or His people we chose to be with it. If we have gone off track, let us confess our wrong ways and come back to the light: “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7)

Prayer: Heavenly Father, help us to experience your grace during these difficult times, help us to set our minds on things that would bring us closer to you each day. Thank You for hearing our prayers, in Jesus name, Amen.