Choosing Our Friends and Companions Wisely Sample

Evangelism Friends 

What about friends who are ungodly? What if you still have close people in your life who have not committed their lives to Christ as you have? What should you do about such friends?

You do not have to immediately break off relationships with non-Christian friends when you get saved. You can still maintain these friendships for the purpose of evangelism. Someone led you to the Lord; you can be such a leader to another person. You can lead your friends to Jesus. Sometimes, they will not listen immediately. They might push you away when you first tell them about the Lord. That is OK. When someone first tried to tell you about living for Jesus, you might not have responded with immediate acceptance either. Be patient. Keep planting seeds of the Word of God, the seeds of the Gospel. Some of your seeds might be words and some of your seeds might be your actions. 

A medieval saint, Francis of Assisi, said, “Preach the Gospel at all times, and if necessary, use words.” The Bible echoes this sentiment when it says that unbelievers can be won over to faith by observing the lives of believers. In other words, you can still love your unbelieving friends and spend time with them. Be careful, however, to remember that the goal of such a relationship is evangelism. Your unbelieving friends should not be the primary people you ask for advice. Be honest with yourself. Make sure that you truly keep these friendships to preach the Gospel. 

Some people have non-Christian friends that they say they want to evangelize; however, they never talk to them about Jesus. They go to ballgames and concerts together, but they do not share the Gospel with them as they claim they want to do. Make sure that you talk to your unbelieving friends about God. Also, do not compromise the Word of God when you are with them. Remember, we do not reach the world for Jesus by becoming like the world. We reach the world for God’s Kingdom by being like Christ. 

God uses people who are different from the world to reach the world. This is very important in relationships and friendships. The more faithful you are in living your life according to the standards of God’s Word, the greater an evangelist you will be. So, if you see Christians in compromising relationships, feel free to ask them this straightforward question: “What are you doing to reach the unsaved person for Christ?” The more Christlike you are, the more powerful your life’s message will be to your friends.