2 Corinthians 6:17
Influence
In his commentary on Isaiah, H. A. Ironside tells of some boys who caught two chirping baby linnets. They decided to teach these birds to sing by placing them in a small cage and hanging it next to the cage of a pet canary. The canary, of course, sang beautifully, so the boys thought if the linnets were close to it they too would become good songbirds. Several weeks went by with no apparent results. Then one day the youngsters were startled by a strange sound coming from the canary’s cage. “Listen,” said one of them, “the canary is cheeping like a linnet.”
A similar danger awaits the Christian who fellowships with ungodly people in the world. He will become like them. But worse than that, he will incur the disfavor of the Heavenly Father, whose will it is that His children separate themselves from sin and evil.
As Christians, we shouldn’t be isolated from the world. We have to live in it, but we do not have to be “of it.” Our Lord said to the Father, “I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil” (John 17:15). Only a separated Christian can bear witness to a sinful world. - P.R.V.