“Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness.”
—2 Corinthians 6:14.

Christ does, of course, want us to keep reaching out to non-Christian friends. Personal relationships are the primary means through which faith is shared. Just make sure that your associates are not dragging you back into the old way of life. If you feel you need to hide your faith while in a certain relationship—something’s wrong.

What we take into our lives, even the entertainment we choose, does have an impact on our spiritual life. We need to be conscious of what we’re feeding our minds.

“I will set before my eyes no vile thing.”
—Psalm 101:3.

More and more of the entertainment around us seems bent toward the graphically violent and the sexually explicit. We live in an X-rated world. But there is still an enormous amount of excellent material out there that remains almost untouched. There is plenty in art and literature and music that explores profound truths and touches our deepest emotions. If we remain in a vacuum, the worst will flood in to fill it. This is especially true of our children. But if we feed our souls on the best, the worst won’t be able to drag us down to its level.

Holding to higher standards in the things we let into our homes and minds won’t narrow our lives. We’ll be greatly broadened if we focus on all that is true, all that is admirable, all that is excellent. The Christian has more to make him happy than anyone else.

“You have made known to me the path of life; YOU WILL FILL ME WITH JOY in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.”
—Psalm 16:11.