You decided to go on a diet. You have eliminated all food that packs on the weight by cleaning out your fridge and your cabinets. Then you end up at lunch with friends. The time comes to order dessert. You have made up your mind to be strong, to stay on the diet, as each person orders a delectable dessert. The server finally gets to you but you hesitate just a fraction of a second. Your moment of weakness is all your friends’ need to sense, and then the temptation really begins. As you are reminded of your great meal choices, you are hit by a flurry of comments that do everything except help you stand in your decision to diet. Further weakened with the help of your good meaning friends, who don’t want to eat it alone, you give in like the alcoholic who only meant to buy a coke in the liquor store. After all, you were the only one dieting and they were not. We have all been there – on both sides of that divide.
Substitute any habit you are trying to break for the dessert – smoking, drugs, alcohol, porn, sex, shopping, television, movies, books, gossip. It seems what our mothers told us is true – misery really does love company. Or as the psalmist said, “They have together become corrupt.”
Read Psalms 14:1-7 and ask yourself these questions:
- Do my friends encourage me in my decisions or do they want me to stay right where I am – unchanging?
- What can I say to my friends when they are not helpful that will not alienate them but draws them to support me meet my goals?
- Or, do I need to find new friends?
- Do I reassure my friends in their decisions?
- What can I do to fortify decisions my friends make, even though God has not called me to cease that particular habit?
- Or, do my friends need to find a new friend?
Lord, You see everything, You hear everything, and You know everything. I admit that I have allowed others to draw me away from breaking off habits You have called me to end, and I admit that I have led others away from their decisions to cease their habits. I ask and receive Your forgiveness for my shortcomings. Lord, truly victory lies with You as my strength. I pray for the wisdom, resolve, and persistence to stay the course you have called me to, and I pray that I would be a support and encourager to others in their decisions. In the name of Jesus, Amen.