As you know, Jimmy is the youth minister at Villebrook Baptist Church and I work with him in the youth ministry. Last night, I saw another classic example of a student whose pride is getting the better of them. This student thinks that they are SUPER mature spiritually (and they are a good Christian) and that they can hang out with whoever they want, whenever they want because they are helping the other person and they are too strong to fall into temptation. This attitude makes me so sad. The Bible calls us to be holy and separated from the world (1 Peter 1:16; 1 Peter 2:9). There is a reason for this!
Picture This
Picture in your head a diving board that’s two feet above the water. You are standing on the very end of the diving board and your identical twin is in the water below you. If you try to pull this person (who is exactly the same height and weight as you) out of the water bellows, 9 times out of 10 you are going to end up in the water! Now imagine that this person is twice your size and the odds of you getting them out of the water rather than you falling in becomes even more unlikely. So how does this apply to life?
Life Application
As a Christian you are called to be on the “diving board”. You should adhere to higher morals, higher standards, and you should remain above board in all that you do. Yes, God does call you to reach down and try to pull the people out of the pool who are drowning in their sins. However, if you are spending all your time pulling and pulling and trying to bring people up to your level, eventually you won’t have the strength to crawl out of the pool when you get pulled in. When this happens you will find that you too are soaked to the bone with sin and bad choices and low moral standards. That’s why you need to surround yourself with other Christians. They can not only help you pull people out of the pool. They can give you a rest when you are weary and hold you accountable on how close you are to falling in. Your Christian brothers and sisters should be your closest friends. They should be the ones you are relying on. If your closest friends are the people that are constantly pulling down on you that is SO not healthy for you spiritually. They can’t revived your spirit or lift you up. In fact, they will probably grab a hold on you when you fall in and practically drown you.
Closing Remarks
So while it is good to witness to people and to have non-Christian friends in your life, I urge you to keep them at a distance. Don’t depend on them to be your best friend or to always be there for you (Christ is the only one who will never let you down). Let your “inner circle” be filled with your Christian friends who should do everything in their power to build you up and not to tear you down. Don’t get caught up in the pride that makes you blind to your own weakness. If you do then you will fall.
