Align Yourselves

As Christians we must be careful who we align ourselves with. We need to be careful about who we choose as friends, associates and business partners. Everyone we meet does not have our best interests at heart. Some people do not have good intentions and will do anything to get ahead. They will lie, steal and cheat in order to come out on top.  We need to choose wisely who we decide to hang around, even with our family members. We can love them from afar, but should not follow them down the wrong path.

What does the word align mean? The dictionary says that it is “to bring oneself in agreement with someone or someone ideas; it is position of agreement or alliance”. In other words, align means you have an alliance with someone based on what you have agreed upon. This alliance can be based on godly principles or worldly principles.

Who you have an alliance with is very critical. It is not to be taken lightly. I might be wrong, but I think when you align yourself with people who do not love God and do not have a relationship with him you are setting yourself up for some heartaches and pains.  We all know people who never want to follow the rules. They always think their way is the right way. They think they are wiser and smarter than the next person. Dealing with these kinds of people cause us to compromise our values and integrity. We do things just to appease them and to get along with them. If we never aligned ourselves with them, we would not be doing these things. God wants us to have friends and associates who have moral values and integrity that align with him.

At this stage in my life I do not want to just go along with someone else’s program that compromises my moral values and integrity. I have learned that it is not worth it. God wants us to stand up for what is right. Many adults do things that compromise their integrity, especially in the workplace. We do things we know are not right, because we are afraid of losing our jobs or our positions. I have seen many times over how in toxic work environments many of us tend to compromise our principles in order to keep the peace and not make waves.

We usually learn at a young age that who we choose to be friends with is very important. This same principle applies at our workplace and where we worship. We spend a lot of time in both places and the friendships we establish are critical to our growth as Christians. In 2 Corinthians 6:14 it says, “Do not be unequally bound together with unbelievers. [Do not make mismatched alliances with them, inconsistent with your faith]. For what partnership can righteousness have with lawlessness? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?” This means Christians should not be in any alliance with anyone that would cause us to compromise our faith. We should not put ourselves in positions and situations that will cause us to sin and fall out of fellowship with God.

When we hang around the wrong people, some of their habits tend to rub off on us.  I know this for a fact because when I was in college and living with roommates, I noticed that I had picked up some of my roommate’s habits by the end of the school year. If we want to be all that God wants us to be, then we must align ourselves with people who are doing God’s will. Christians should have friends that are seeking God like they are. One reason we need these kinds of friends is they will understand our struggles and what we are going through. They understand what it means to walk the plan God has for our lives.

Today let’s start cultivating friendships with people who are striving to serve God and willing to learn more about him. We need people in our lives who will challenge us and help us to be all that God wants us to be. We do not need people in our life who are manipulative and who can cause us to lose our faith, or people who always tell us what they think we want to hear. We need people who will tell us the truth in love and encourage us to continue to follow Jesus. We need friends like Paul who encouraged Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:8 when he said, “So do not be ashamed to tell people about our Lord Jesus. And do not be ashamed of me. I am in prison for the Lord. But suffer with me for the Good News. God gives us the strength to do that.”  This is the kind of friend we need. We need people in our lives who are honest with us and will not sugar coat the truth.

LSW