Non-believer friends?

Well I have a few, actually a couple really good one's. But I must say that God has indeed cleared out a lot of them on His own with my coming to know Him more.

If these friends aren't doing any harm to my faith then I shouldn't push them out of my life right? I know there's a verse that says not to "yoke" with unbelievers or something but I'm not sure how deep this goes or how much I should relate to it in my life?

No. Don't push them out of your life. Follow Christ moment by moment. Absolute surrender to His will is the surest way to rightly handle each and every relationship you are in. And do try not to get caught up in thinking about what you should do in any hypothetical situation. Trust God for the needs and guidance of the moment. When the moment comes for a decision to made with regards to your friends, He will make it known to you in His time.

The idea of being yoked to somebody is that you allow yourself to be bound up with that person. We are not to be bound with unbelievers, but believers. To unbelievers we are to be set apart, followers of Christ and lovers of the brethren so that they may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven.

Trust Him moment by moment and do not be overly concerned about anything but loving and living for Him.

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"You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England." – C.S. Lewis Surprised by Joy






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thank you Elioenai for the comment. I really like your words and agree with them. I do try my best to live moment my moment and trust the Lord the whole way along the road. This is basically what I thought but I wanted to hear what others opinions are on the matter. I don't think that these individuals will ever be a problem for my personal faith.... had they become one I would have to ask the Lord what to do then for sure!

Thanks again!

This is the surest path to peace. Remember: "in the world, not of the world." I'm happy for you.

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"You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England." – C.S. Lewis Surprised by Joy






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Don't push them away from you at all. If they're your friends and they've stuck by you and shared with you, what does it say about you and Christ if after everything you've done together you throw it away.

A yoke is something that goes over the shoulders of two oxen to help them both pull a plough. Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers is saying not to let unbelievers hold you back as the yoke rests more on you, i.e. you end up wasting energy etc. as one perosn whom you are close to pulls you back. It does not say don't have non-Christian friends. It doesn't even say don't be married to a non-Christian, but says not to become so close to someone who is unbelieving who is pulling you back and being a burden on you and preventing you from moving forward. There's nothing inherent about non-believers which means that they will be a burden on you nor pull you back. Good friends who have accepted you as a Christian even if they're not seem to be the opposite; they're people who are there for you, want to be there for you, will support you, and will want support from you. They respect you for being you. They're worth holding onto

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It's good to have non-Christian friends, as long as they aren't pulling you into sin. We should be friendly and interacting with people of all sorts, as that's the best way to be a witness for Jesus, and can give us a fuller perspective on life too.

There is nothing bad about having friends who are not Christian, the only thing to remember is that your life is to be orientated towards following Jesus and as long as you can still do that without any pressure then it's fine

I can work with or for non-Christians, I can go out to dinner with them, I can socialize with them in non-threatening environments. I can work alongside them for charity events, or to help feed the homeless, etc.
But the line you shouldn't cross is for them to become a counselor or confidant. Then you are dealing with things of the spirit, and you can't have any fellowship with those that are in the devils camp.

In most cases I've kept very few non-Christian friends, simply because life has a way of bringing up eternal issues. And,once you make your position known and show you won't compromise, most non-believers hit the "eject" button.

I don't fully agree. God can work through non-Christians too. One of the most profound moments for me in discerning my sense of calling to the ministry was when I mentioned it to a non-Christian friend who's known me longer than anyone else at the time and responded with words to the effect 'I think that's definitely the right direction for your life.'

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