文學與人生 Dream sees the invisible, feels the intangible and achieves the impossible.

"You just don't understand," whined Julie one evening when her parents wouldn't give her permission to go to the home of a classmate and watch a movie with a group of girls.

"Honey, you're the one who doesn't understand," said Mom. "I've seen ads for the movie you mentioned, and it obviously has indecent and immoral scenes and music. That's not a good thing for anyone to see."

"But everybody's watching it!" argued Julie. "Besides, I'm trying to be a witness to my friends. If you never let me do anything with them, how will I ever get them to listen when I tell them about Jesus?"

"I'm glad you want help them get to know Him, honey," replied Dad, "but joining them in questionable activities is not the way to win them to Jesus."

As they were talking, one of Dad's friends came to the door. "Can you give me a hand?" asked Mr. Cox. "This old country road you live on is so muddy from all the rain we've been having that I got stuck down at the corner. Think you could pull me out?"

"Sure," said Dad. "Want to come along, Julie?" She nodded, so they jumped into Dad's truck and were off to the rescue.

When they got to the corner, Dad began to back the truck right down into the muddy area where the car was stuck. "Dad!" exclaimed Julie. "We'll get stuck, too!"

"This truck has a lot of power," Dad replied. "I think we'll be all right."

But they did get stuck! "You were right, Julie," Dad admitted. "This mud is deeper than I thought." He paused, then added, "What happened here reminds me of what we discussed earlier. Trying to help friends by joining them in wrong things is like going down into this mud in an effort to help Mr. Cox. In the end nobody is helped at all. Instead, the would-be helpers may even get stuck themselves-in mud or other bad stuff."

Julie was thoughtful. "So to help Mr. Cox, you should have stayed out of the mud, and to really help my friends, I need to stay away from bad things they do."

"Yes," agreed Dad. "Be different from them. Let them see that you don't need to sin to have a good time."

HOW ABOUT YOU?

Do you want to win your friends to Christ? Have you thought they'd listen better if you joined them in activities that you know wouldn't please Jesus? Going along with the wrong things others do won't show them they need Jesus, and it will probably draw you away from Him. Live the way you know God wants you to live, and you can be a better testimony for Him.

TODAY'S KEY VERSE:

Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. 2 Corinthians 6:17

又說：你們務要從他們中間出來，與他們分別；不要沾不潔淨的物，我就收納你們。

哥林多後書 6:17