God, however, has ordained that we terminate our friendships after we have believed in the Lord Jesus.
James spoke of friendship of the world (James 4:4). The world here means “worldly people.” “The friendship of the world is enmity with God.” Please remember that the love for the Father is not in us if we love the world (1 John 2:15). To be a friend of worldly people is to be an enemy of God.
A new believer must be very clear that as soon as he becomes a Christian, he has to replace all of his friends. If you have just accepted the Lord, you must replace your friends. This is the same as changing one’s attire and everything else when one believes in the Lord. Friends also need to be changed. One has to have an entirely different set of friends. I know what I am talking about. A new believer will live a poor and shallow spiritual life if he does not change his friends. A person should terminate all of his old friendships as soon as he believes in the Lord. It is wonderful to note that when God’s love comes in, man’s love departs. When the Lord’s life comes into us, the world can no longer be a friend to us.
But our Lord did not say that we have to hate the world in order to love God. This does not mean that we have to ignore the world or that we can no longer greet our friends on the street. Rather, it means that whoever befriends the world is at enmity with God. We do not have to treat the world as our enemy, but our deep friendship and our devotion to fellowship with it must be terminated. We may still love our friends, but now our goal should be to save them. We may still treat them as friends, but our goal should be like that of Cornelius—to bring them the gospel. Cornelius invited two groups of people when Peter came to his house: his relatives and his intimate friends (Acts 10:24). He knew that God wanted him to invite Peter, and he invited his relatives and intimate friends as well to listen to the gospel. This is the goal of our continued acquaintance; it is not to maintain our former ties. A man cannot stop knowing a person whom he has known already. A friend is still a friend. One cannot cut off his relationship with those who have been acquainted with him for years. Dealing with our friendship means that we have a turn in the Lord. It means that all former relationships cease. From this point forward, we still talk to our friends when we see them. We still discuss things with them if we have problems. But we have a new life, while they do not have such a life. Our relationship should not ignore this change in life. A person becomes a friend by first becoming acquainted with another, then by loving him, and finally by socializing with him. If we continue such a relationship with our friends after we are saved, we are at enmity with God, and spontaneously we will not be able to go on in a proper way.
In running a race, the lighter the weight one has on his body, the better it is. The more one deals with sins, the lighter his weight will be. The more recompenses one makes, the lighter his burdens will be. The more friends you leave behind, the less weight you will have. If you add a few friends to yourself, you will find yourself being pressed down. I have seen many brothers and sisters who have been held down by their friends. They cannot be absolute to God’s way; it is hard for them to be good Christians. An unbeliever’s standard of morality and conduct will always be that of an unbeliever’s. They may not drag you down, but they will surely not lift you up.
Second Corinthians 6:14 says, “Do not become dissimilarly yoked with unbelievers.” Many people think that this is a word for marriage. I agree that being dissimilarly yoked does imply marriage, but it also describes all other relationships between believers and unbelievers.