Tomatoes

"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?"

II Corinthians 6:14

Everyday, we encounter different people. Different habits. Different kind of talk. Different views. Different style. Different lifestyles.

And it is definitely hard to pick the people you would want to share your life with as you journey along. The battle with your own self versus your new self in Christ never ends. Sadly, most of the times, we tend to let our selves win over what Christ wants us to do. 

We tend to choose the people this world offers.

Have you ever thought why you tend to do that?

The world offers a variety of people, specially made for you to fall down of your Christian life. It can be a crush from your class who is an unbeliever and when he told you he felt the same feelings, you gave up all your beliefs and followed your heart.

It can be an unbeliever friend whom you have come to one day after you overheard your parents fight the other day and convinced you to go clubbing or cut classes.

Satan can device a lot of things you can never imagine that can be used against you and put you into a much lower state in life.

I have been in that situation for numerous times and when I start to look back at some of those so-called "friends" I've met, I never thought these too good to be true people will be used to drown me more in negativity and endless suffering these past years.

I have met a geek yet artistic friend on my high school. She was one of my first friends and she is really a good person to me. I even had the opportunity to share the gospel to her, and she received Christ as her Savior. But before all of that, she introduced me to some books which led me to getting hooked and obsessed. I began to spend money, time, and effort just to read stories from an online app late at night. My innocent mind suddenly became open to the other side of the world—its sins, temptations, and a lot more. 

I stayed with them, and continued that kind of lifestyle. I am living a doble-kara life. Until it became a burden when my parents found out what I am doing. I was devastated and hit rock bottom. I know it was my fault, but if I had my limits and walls to shield myself, I wouldn't be hurt so much that until now, I bear that scar of my past.

I am not blaming my friends that time. They are unbelievers. What can I expect to them? I can't blame them for teaching me to stay up late and read different stories from online sites. They were simply used to attacked me and it was my fault that I let these things won.

As a young believer in Christ, this is the best time for Satan to attack us and insert rotten tomatoes beside us to harm and inflict pain in us. 

Our teenage years are either the best time we can serve God and prove that God can use us even though we are still navigating our lives to adulthood, or this will be the best time and opportunity Satan will get to ruin and misdirect your life by putting you in situations wherein you would want to choose the pleasures, or even give in to the temptations or the rotten tomatoes present in your life.

Just like the healthy tomatoes, we must guard ourselves from secret invaders and protect our purity and righteousness. Once we are inside a classroom, a workplace, a house, or any place where we will be mixed up with people we might know or never know, make sure to fill your mind with verses and commandments from the Lord to protect you and your testimony.

It will be very hard to detect the rotten tomatoes in our lives because as what the Bible says, the devil can sugar coat himself and present himself as an "Angel of Light". I have experienced it a dozen of times as well as I have seen some people who drifted away from the truth because they have heeded to the so called friends whom they thought were nice and an "angel of light" who were there by their sides to help them in their darkest moments.

We must learn to set a wall to guard ourselves. We, girls, are most likely to be carried away by our emotions. We are more likely to be deceived than men. I want to give some helpful tips on how to detect friends or people who are most likely to become the rotten tomatoes who's ready to inflict damage to your life.

1. They are an unbeliever.

   —This must be the very bottom line of choosing the right people you want to be with. If he/she is not a believer yet, then it can be best to stay as an "acquaintance" rather than being best friends and sooner or later you'll found out the influence this friend of yours did to you. If this person is a believer, he/she will make the lesser chance to lead you to the wrong decisions because this person fears God.

2. They tolerate your wrong actions.

   —This may be detected so easily, but when we get to the point that we want to justify our mistakes, there may be someone who'd go along with you and tell you, "Yeah! You are right and they are wrong!". A lot of teenagers fall on this type of friend. The friend who filters what they would say to you. Our flesh would always want to please ourselves and would want to hear words that seem to encourage you and comfort you, but when you look at it thoroughly, this kind of friend is actually tolerating you to rebel. It can be a friend who wants to offer you a little sip of alcohol, a friend who wants you to have a boyfriend at this early age, a friend who tolerates your rebel behavior against your parents, and many more,

3. They discourage service for Christ.

   —These kinds of people will always find a way to pull you away from what Christ wants you to do. I have known people who were in a ministry at some point in their lives, but later on stopped. They exchanged attending Sunday Worship services for some "gala" and "fun day" with their friends. I have seen people leave their ministry in church because they feel they do not belong in there anymore, thus, shifting their focus to their so called, "best", "comforting", "encouraging", "not judgmental", and, "understanding" friends. These people will lead you away from the truth and pull you closer to darkness from which Christ saved you from.

We as the light are supposed to pull these people out from the darkness. But what happens nowadays is that, we are the ones pulled to their world. And sad to say, that this devastating action not only affects our lives, but others' too. They are discouraged from our behaviors. 

Detecting and avoiding the rotten tomatoes are definitely hard to do. I have gone through it and believe me, I still have some rotten tomatoes that lingers in my life. 

But God, through His Word, delivered solutions and escape plan for us to avoid and detect these bad influences in our life. Staying in the ministry and not forsaking the assembly every Sunday is a very good thing to do. Staying in God's path and filling our hearts with His word are the very basic things wherein we can shield and guard ourselves from these potential threats to our Christian Walk with God. 

God gives grace and guidance to His children. Ultimately, if we ask for His protection to us as we continuously encounter different people in our everyday life, it may be a long journey but I certainly believe we can overcome and conquer this.

Share your healthy and blessed life with the people you knew need it. ❤