We Must Be Careful Among Friends

In Book 2 when Augustine tells of when he and his friends went into a pear orchard and stole a bunch of pears, he then goes on to explain that in his adolescence there were two main sins that he was involved with: the sin of misdirected love and the sin of desiring to do wrong for wrongs sake. These seem trivial and youthful but towards the end of book 2 he raises an interesting point that peer pressure did play a role in his stealing the pears. He had no desire for pears or any motive other than the pure thrill of doing something wrong. He wouldn't have done this had he not been with a group of friends. It's interesting to me the idea that we must be careful in our friendships just as we are careful with our relationships with enemies and maybe even more so. We are instinctively careful and vigilant of our enemies whereas when we're among friends we feel safe, we feel like we can trust those around us. If an enemy tells us to do something, even if it's good, we're likely to be suspicious and wary to heed their advice. If friends encourage us to do something, we're likely to do it regardless of if its right or wrong because we're being pushed on by people who supposedly care for our best interest. Even if we know it's something wrong, we're consoled by the fact that it's friends wanting us to do it. Although it is good to have people with whom your guard is down, we must be careful to not become so suggestible as to compromise our morals by assuming those who care about you can't or won't lead you astray.

I commented on Nate's and Darby's!