Choosing Companions

What company do you keep? By that I mean, in what kind of company do you prefer to be? The Bible shows that companionship is a gift from God. Immediately after the creation of Adam, God said, “It is not good that man should be alone.” Eve was then provided by God to be of help and benefit to Adam. However, it is equally clear from the Bible that not all company is helpful and beneficial to us. In school, college, university, and at work, we are with different types of people, and we have no choice in the matter. But when your work is over, and you have some time to spend with others, what company do you choose?

Can you truly say, like David the Psalmist, “I am a companion of all them that fear Thee,” or do you secretly despise those who fear the Lord, and avoid their company if possible? People generally choose company where they feel most at ease. They prefer to be with those whose interests are similar to their own. Do you shun the company of the Lord’s people because you feel ill at ease there, have no interest in their conversation, and have nothing in common with them?

How sad it is that many of you, who have been brought up in homes where the Word of God is read regularly, and who have been taken to the house of God from an early age, should choose the company of worldly people, who have no place for God, His Word, His people, His day and His worship, and who openly express their hatred of these things and take great delight in mocking them. Is that really the company in which you find pleasure? If so then you are in a very dangerous situation. “Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend to the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4). The Book of Proverbs warns: “A companion of fools shall be destroyed.”

Perhaps you feel that there is “safety in numbers.” You enjoy being with the crowd, regardless of the conversation or activity engaged in. But the Word of God warns you, “Though hand join in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished” (Prov. 11:21). May you realize the danger you are in before it is too late. We who have heard the good news of the Gospel have great privileges which carry with them tremendous responsibility in view of judgment and eternity. We should be praying that what we hear would be blessed to us, so that we would see that we are great sinners, and that we need that suitable and all-sufficient Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Dear young friends, may you realize this, repent of your sins, and believe in Christ to the saving of your soul. Then you will love the company of those who fear the Lord, and it will be true that “Ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints and of the household of God” (Eph. 2:19).

Some of the great blessings which belong to those who fear the Lord are: forgiveness of sins, peace with God, and the prospect of eternal happiness. In a sinful, restless, unhappy world, are these not things greatly to be desired? People nowadays spend a great deal of time and money trying to find happiness, but what is a fleeting time of happiness here on earth, compared to the endless happiness in heaven promised to the people of God? Is this then good company in which you would like to be, or have you made up your mind to follow the world and its jading pleasures, whatever the cost might be? Well, remember what Jesus said: “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mk. 8:36,37).

It may be that, deep down in your heart you would like to be in the company of the people of God, but you are afraid that, in attaching yourself to them, you would have to give up too much, and would have to suffer the mockery and persecution of your worldly companions. Let me mention, for your encouragement, two well-known Old Testament characters who, in choosing the company of God’s people, both had to give up much, but did not regret the choice they had made.

You all know the story of Moses, born of Hebrew parents, but brought up by Pharaoh’s daughter in Pharaoh’s palace. He could have continued to enjoy all the princely privileges and riches which he was entitled to, but he gave all that up, “choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt” (Heb. 11:25,26). He was then greatly honored by God in being chosen to lead His people out of Egypt.

Then we have the wonderful story of Ruth, who was willing to give up all her family and friends in the land of Moab, to be in the company of godly Naomi, her mother-in-law, on her way back to Bethlehem. There, in the good providence of the Lord, she met and married Boaz, and thereby is included among the ancestors of David and Christ. She never had any cause to regret her resolve, expressed thus to Naomi: “Intreat me not to leave thee, or to return from following after thee... thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God” (Ruth 1:16).

Let it be your earnest prayer, then, that you would, like Moses and Ruth, be given the will and strength to give up your worldly companions and make the choice which they made.

Young People’s Magazine

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