I spent most of last week visiting two Christian colleges with some teens. It made me realize the importance of Christian education – but not for reasons you might think. Yes, we know that our educational system is plagued with non-biblical views on topics such as creation, race, and social norms. But, I think perhaps a far greater value of getting a young person into a Christian school is the environment or atmosphere. Young people will be shaped not only by what they learn in the classroom, but perhaps even more acutely by what they learn outside. The relationships, friends, and even their choice of spouse in life will be chosen largely from those people whom they are around the most. Sure, God has His people everywhere and there certainly are Christians in the secular school world – in fact, I was one of them! But there surely aren’t as many Christians in that environment and there are many stripes of Christians in the world who are not doctrinally sound. All of this leads me to look at three examples from Scripture where friends had a profound influence.

The first example is King Solomon. He was the wisest person to ever live. Under his rule, the kingdom of Israel flourished. The temple was a great center of worship for the people. Yet, Solomon did not surround himself with Christian “friends”. Solomon had more than one thousand of these “friends” (aka wives). “King Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart” (1 King 11:1-3). He knew what was right before the Lord, but the influence of these women was too great for him to resist. Getting too close to those who do not share your faith can pull you away from the truth. How many young people leave high school or college with a “sweetheart” that they met in school? This is one of the best (and maybe the only) reason you may need to be convinced of Christian school. Not that everyone in that environment is truly following the Lord, but the pool of eligible mates is undeniably much broader and deeper than in a secular environment.

Secondly, we must take a look at Job’s friends. In the midst of Job’s greatest life crisis, his friends were there for him. They stuck with him and gave him much counsel. Their counsel sounded like it was coming from God himself, but it was completely off base. In fact, their advice was so bad that God directly intervened, saying to “Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath” (Job 42:7). The example of Job’s friends shows us how important to choose friends that are doctrinally sound. There are many “Christian-ish” people out there as well as many “Christian-ish” schools. Like Job’s friends, they may profess to have counsel from God, but don’t truly stand for what the Bible teaches. It’s becoming harder and harder to find schools and people that stand for God’s truth. We must be vigilant, watchful, and highly selective when deciding who to trust.

Finally, consider the friends of Daniel. Daniel was a young man when Israel was overrun by the Babylonians and he was taken captive along with some of his Hebrew friends. You may remember three in particular that refused to worship an idol and were thrown into a fiery furnace as a result. Daniel and his friends were educated in the ways of the godless Babylonian empire. Yet, they stuck together, worshipped God alone, and kept practicing their faith. As a result, Daniel was used greatly of God even despite the circumstances that were stacked against him. If this doesn’t demonstrate the power of having faith-filled friends, I don’t know what does.

So, be aware of the atmosphere where you are placing your children. Is it “friendly” toward the Christian faith? Is it doctrinally sound? Would you want them to choose a lifelong partner from the pool of candidates there? These are just some of the reasons why we must be on the watch. You will find that if you develop faith-filled friends like Daniel, not even the heretical and godless culture around you can tear you away from living for God’s truth.