Choosing the Right Circle of People To Be With

As David forged his list of vows to the Lord in living a life devoted to Him, he first focused on his private and personal life beginning from his own lifestyle to the way he conducts and manages his home.

From there, David now shifts his focus toward his public life and how he deals with other people that he encounters.

I hope that we would be able to relate with David in trying to ask the Lord to help us in private victories and public victories in our lives so that we can maintain a healthy and dynamic relationship with God.

We must continue on in our devotion to seek Him and the desires of His heart so that our lives can be as fruitful as it can be for the glory of God.

Starting from Psalm 101:3b until Psalm 101:4, we would see what David promises that he would do with regard to the relationships that he builds with others around him and the Scripture says:

"The deeds of faithless men I hate; they will not cling to me. Men of perverse heart shall be far from me; I will have nothing to do with evil."

David makes it quite clear here that he wants to be around righteous people who follow the will of God and obey His commands and meditate on His Word.

Further in the passage, David actually mentions that he wants to be counselled and ministered to by faithful men of God so that he can continue to have a deep connection with God and so that he can be nourished by His Word every day of his life.

In the passage of Scripture mentioned above, David states clearly that faithless men will not cling to him and that men of perverse heart or people whose minds are filled with malice and whose hearts reject the true knowledge of God and His discipline in their lives will be far from him.

Based from these, David simply tells us that we should be around people who have strong faith in God and are devoted to Him and filled by the Holy Spirit.

Choosing the right circle of people to be with and to gain advice from is an important part of our lives which requires prudence and a wise judgment of people so that you will not be influenced by the wrong people and instead of leading you to closer to God, these people might cause you to stray from God.

So it is important, I believe, for us Christians to be strengthened in the faith as we immerse ourselves with faithful people who are obedient to God's Word.

This does not mean that we have to hide from the world or to distance ourselves or close ourselves from people rather it is quite the opposite.

We as Christians live in the world but should not be of the world. We need to stand firm in our faith and never compromise it but we also have to go to the nations and make disciples of all peoples because that is a command from God.

As Jesus said in Matthew 5:13-16 that we, His followers and friends, need to be the salt of the earth and the light to the world.

Since we know the ways of God and by His grace are made right with Him through Jesus' righteousness in us, we need to share that with those who have not known Him yet and who have not heard the message of Jesus.

This passage of Scripture tells us that though we live in a world of persecution and sin, we should keep and guard ourselves so that we will not be affected or swayed by influences or forces of evil.

But we have to continue to preach and share the gospel to as many people as we can because we have been tasked by God to make disciples of all nations.

Even though you might not literally travel to different countries of the world, the term 'nations' can signify the people in your spheres of influence or those whom you interact with often in your life.

They may include your family, friends, teachers, neighbors, and anyone whom you have the chance to develop an acquaintance with.

In so doing, we are able to give these people the opportunity to meet Christ and accept Him as Lord and Savior so that they too may share Jesus to their circle of friends or family.

Also, this passage tells us that as Christians, we need to be surrounded by wise advisers, people who constantly hear from the Lord so that we can ask advice from them when we need help or encouragement. Sometimes, the Lord uses certain people to minister to those who need counselling and guidance.

I pray then that we can be able to choose wisely in our lives with the people whom we associate with and those whom we receive advice from but at the same time, to be able to reach out to people as well and be the light to them just as Jesus is the light in our lives.

You can introduce Jesus to them so that He can be the light in their lives as well and so that He can use them for His glory. I hope you have been able to get much out from this as I have from our pastor. God Bless!