"You should always accept your friends for who they are."
Really? So, you should accept your "friend" if they are a:
1) Liar
2) Backstabber
3) Thief
4) Discriminatory
5) Womanizer
6) Coward
7) Sadist
Etc., etc., etc.?
NO!
Yes, we should be polite and respectful and love our enemies. But we are also called to be as cunning as serpents. That means we should never enter into a friendship (be it a social one, a business one, a ministerial one, or a marital one) with someone who a) likes being evil b) enjoys being evil. Proverbs has a dirty laundry list of the types of people whom you should never, ever, associate with at all. However, Jesus kept it simple with the following verse:
"Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you." (Matthew 7:6)
In context, this verse is about not giving the gospel to people who never, ever want to hear it. However, it can also be applied to who you give your friendship to. Remember, every human being not named Jesus Christ is EVIL until they completely and unconditionally surrender to Him. The bottomless pit of human depravity is confirmed by what is reported in Yahoo!News headlines. In other words, most people who want to be your friend just want to use you for:
1) Your money
2) Your body
3) Your status in society
4) Your citizenship (if you are from the first world)
5) A valuable skill or other resource you have
From personal experience, once these people get what they want from you, or find someone whom they believe can give it to them faster and in more abundance, or believe that you are no longer of use to them, they trample all over your friendship and attack you like a wild boar. For this reason, I now ask the Holy Spirit whether or not I should trust someone, and if He gives me the thumbs down, I have nothing to do with that person. Ever.
In order to preach the gospel, we, as slaves of Christ, need to protect our emotional health. This means staying away from dogs and pigs who want to dismember our hearts. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.*
*Romans 6:23
