Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.”

— 1 Corinthians 15:33

Bad companions ruin good character. How true that is for people of all ages, perhaps especially young people. Take heed whom you select as friends. One of the wisest bits of advice that you could possibly have is: choose friends that are more godly than you are.

If you want to know how spiritual or how holy you are, take a look at your friends, because they are a very good reflection of your spiritual growth. Birds of a feather, you know, flock together. How spiritual are your friends? I can tell you this: they are probably about as spiritual as you are. Jesus went among sinners, you say. Yes, but he went to give them the Gospel, not to get fellowship and companionship from them.

In Psalm 1, David contrasts the godly with the ungodly. The godly man not only spends time meditating and reflecting on the Word of God, he shuns the corruption that comes from the company of mockers. We need to choose our friends wisely, so that we can build each other up, not bring each other down.

Question to ponder:
Are there any friendships that you may need to terminate, for the sake of your soul? Any friendships you should cultivate?

Whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, but closes his heart of compassion from him, how can the love of God remain in him?

— 1 John 3:17

Let me tell you a story. I was a brand new Christian and I decided to read the Bible, so I just opened it up at random (not a recommended procedure), and I looked down and read a verse that said, “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41). I thought to myself, “Good heavens, what horrible things did these people do?” I discovered they had done nothing.

Jesus said, “For I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, I was naked and you did not clothe Me, I was sick and in prison and you did not visit Me… . as you did it not for one of the least of these, you did it not for Me” (Matthew 25:42-43, 45).

God didn’t create us to not do something. He created us to do something. He told us to “Do this,” and “Do that,” and “Do the other.” And one of those things is to feed the hungry and visit the sick in His name. If we fail to do those things, we are guilty of sins of omission, which can be just as devastating in their consequences as the sins of commission.

Question to ponder:
Are you involved in any acts of mercy?

He must increase, but I must decrease.

— John 3:30

Jesus said about John the Baptist that he was the greatest among men. What was so great about him? He had understood who Christ Jesus was. He is the one who proclaimed, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). He also said, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life” (John 3:36).

But it was neither his eloquence nor his theological understanding which impressed Christ. It was his humility—his humble acceptance of his own role. John the Baptist knew that Jesus was God’s Messiah, and that he himself was only the forerunner, the messenger, crying out: “Prepare the way of the Lord.”

When Christ came, John’s ministry was essentially over. And John the Baptist could say these famous words: “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Question to ponder:
Have you ever seen a work or a ministry you helped build up taken over by another?

Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him or give thanks to Him as God, but became futile in their imaginations, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

— Romans 1:21

Is there a God or is there not? That question eclipses all other questions that men might ask. Should you feel that this statement is merely the opinion of a theologian or minister, let me give it to you from another source. Dr. Mortimer Adler, former professor at the University of Chicago and the associate editor of that massive set of volumes entitled, The Great Books of the Western World—60 volumes of the greatest writings of the greatest minds of the Western world—says that with the exception of certain mathematicians and physicists, all the authors included in the Great Books are represented in the chapter on God.

In the Syntopicon of The Great Books, the two-volumes that deal with all of the subjects covered by all of the various authors, Dr. Adler says that the subject of God is the one that is handled by more authors than any other. “The reason is obvious,” said Dr. Adler. “More consequences for thought and action follow the affirmation or denial of God than the answering of any other basic question.”

Question to ponder:
What consequences flow from belief or unbelief in God?

One thing I have asked from the Lord, that will I seek after—for me to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to see the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.

— Psalm 27:4

Every one of us longs for something. Every one of us has something that he desires, dreams about, hungers after, and thirsts for. I don’t know what that might be in your life. Perhaps it is fame, fortune, wealth, ease, recreation. But I know this: no unbeliever pants after God. His soul does not thirst for the living God.

It is God—and nothing else—who can fill the emptiness in the human heart. This hunger for God alone is like a little child in the street who has lost her mother and is crying, “Mommy, mommy.”

You may take the child into your home, offer her some ice cream and some toys. You may try everything, but she will not be all right until she can rush into the arms and bosom of her mother. So, the soul reborn will not be satisfied with anything but the living God.

The intimate knowledge of the living God is the great purpose of our lives. If you do not have that in your life, then pray that God would grant it to you, that He would give you that panting and thirsting spirit. And if, with all your heart, you truly seek Him you shall surely find Him. That is His promise.

Question to ponder:
What does it mean to seek God, to seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness?

… He predestined us to adoption as sons to Himself through Jesus Christ according to the good pleasure of His will,

— Ephesians 1:5

God sovereignly controls and ordains all things that come to pass, from the greatest star to the smallest atom. He has done this in such a way as to leave a certain natural liberty to men. They are free to do as they please, and yet they always do that which God has eternally ordained. We find that we cannot understand this, for there are some things that are beyond our feeble comprehension—e.g., man’s free will and God’s eternal purpose.

He created man with a power to do good or evil. Man chose to do evil thus plunging the world into sin and bringing him into a state of bondage, into a state of condemnation and wrath.

We find that God determined not to leave him there, but from all eternity selected out of this mass of fallen mankind a people for Himself: His elect, His chosen ones—a multitude of every tongue and kindred, nation and tribe under the sun; a multitude that no man can number—and these, God determined to save. These are His sheep. These are His chosen ones, for the Father has chosen them. He has sent His Son to die for them and procure for them eternal life.

Question to ponder:
What does it mean that He chose you before the foundation of the world?

for you shall not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

— Exodus 34:14

What does it mean that God is a jealous God? When we use the word “jealous” in reference to other people, it almost always has a negative connotation, but not so with God. God is not jealous of us, He is not jealous of some other god, because there is no other god—merely figments of somebody’s imagination.

He is jealous for our good in the same way that every father and mother here is jealous for their children. Hopefully no one is jealous of them, but jealous for them, that they might have the best education, that they might eat the best food, that they might have the best care, that they might grow up to be the best people they possibly can be. And you are angry with anything that threatens the best for your children, anything that threatens to harm them.

That is why He commands us to “have no other gods before Me.” He knows that if we worship anything less than the true God, we will become like that which we worship and will therefore become far less than we could be.

Question to ponder:
What is the difference between jealousy and envy?

For the word of God is alive, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intents of the heart.

— Hebrews 4:12

One of the canons of multicultural America is that no culture is better or worse than any other. That is why there is very little acknowledgement of the unspeakable horrors, cannibalism among them, practiced by pagan peoples.

This raises the question: how have formerly barbarous cultures been raised to civilization? Well, there is nothing in the annals of history that compares to what the World of God has done to civilize barbaric peoples. Even Charles Darwin confessed this after returning from his memorable voyage to the South Seas on the Beagle.

There was a great attack upon foreign missionaries in the London Times. Darwin wrote a letter to the editor in which he criticized those who attack missionaries and said this: that such an attitude on the part of a voyager was particularly inexcusable, for should he happen to be cast ashore on some uncharted island he will devoutly pray that the lesson of the missionary has preceded him.

God’s Word changes people and nations and cultures. His Word changed the Celtic people. It changed the Vikings. The Lord uses His word to work His will. It is only God’s Word and the Gospel of Jesus Christ that truly change people.

Question to ponder:
How does God’s Word continue to bring changes in your life?

… And be sure your sin will find you out.

— Numbers 32:23

Sometimes Christians mistakenly think that if we sin, we can somehow escape the penalty for sin because of the forgiveness Christ purchased for us on the Cross. We may be forgiven, but we may also still face the consequences of those sins.

David’s sin with Bathsheba negatively impacted his family. His son Absalom rebelled and attempted to stage a coup against David. In that rebellion, Absalom was killed.

When news was brought to the king of his son’s death, David uttered what are without question, the most poignant words in all of Scripture. He said, “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom!” For David knew what no parent can stand to know and that is that Absalom, his heart’s desire, was a rebel not only against himself, but against God—that Absalom is in Hell. And it was because of the example of his life, and because of the sin of his life that his own son now had perished. “Absalom, my son, my son!”

Does the Christian sin with impunity? Dear friend, ask King David.

Question to ponder:
Although we may bear the scars of sin for a lifetime, doesn’t it touch you deeply to know that in Christ your sins are forgiven?

Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God … when you have eaten and are full and have built and occupied good houses.

— Isaiah 55:5-6

Christopher Columbus is a somewhat unappreciated hero today. Nonetheless, his accomplishment in history was huge. He himself said, “It was the Lord who put it into my mind to sail to the Indies. The fact that the Gospel must be preached to so many lands—that is what convinced me. Charting the seas is but a necessary requisite for the fulfillment of the Great Commission of our glorious Savior.”

He attempted great things for God, and he led the path for others to follow into the New World. Columbus also led daily devotions on his ship. This was the prayer they said daily during that historic voyage:

Blessed be the light of day,
And the holy cross we say;
And the Lord of verity,
And the Holy Trinity.

When he arrived on land in the western hemisphere, those were his very first words, after which he planted a Cross—the Cross of Jesus Christ. Christopher, means “Christ-bearer” and Columbus believed all of his life that it was his calling by God to carry Christ to the New World, to the far isles of the sea.

Question to ponder:
Have you ever felt that God put something special on your heart that you should do?