Generally, a bad friend is a friend who contributes negatively to a person’s life. A bad friend is a friend who will harm your life such that you will lose. A bad friend is a friend who has a negative impact on your life and selfishly cares less about your welfare.
Signs of a bad friend
Humans are social beings; day in, day out, we meet and interact with lots of people at school, at work, and in the community. For reasons such as beauty, intelligence, attitude, etc., we take a liking to some of the people we meet and we hang around with them. These people we take a liking to and hang around with, eventually, become our friends.
Some of these friends we make in life, later, prove themselves to be good friends or bad friends. In some cases too, you can tell whether a person will be a bad friend or a good friend to you even before you begin to have a friendship with him.
As I speak now, you are in a friendship; you have someone to call your friend and, also, you are a friend to someone. It is about time you learned to identify who your bad friends are and also to check yourself to see whether you are a bad friend to someone or not. Take note of the following:
1. A bad friend is a friend who is ungodly or does not fear God.
If you are in friendship with a person who does not fear God and or whose ways are immoral, then know for certain that you have a bad friend on your hands. The hand of God is against such a person and walking with him would be detrimental to your life. A long time ago, there was a king called Ahaziah. He was the son and successor of King Ahab and he walked in the footsteps of his father, worshipping idols and there was no fear of God in him.
There was another king at that time called Jehoshaphat who was the king of Judah and he feared the Lord. King Jehoshaphat was the friend of King Ahab and, after Ahab’s death, he continued this friendship with King Ahaziah.
With time, these two kings joined hands to make ships that would sail to Ophir to trade for gold – a business that would have been profitable. However, because King Ahaziah was an evil person, God’s hand was against him and God destroyed the ships such that none of it could sail and, hence, ruined the whole business. If Jehoshaphat had done it alone, it would have worked. But because he joined himself to Ahaziah, one who does not fear God, the business failed.
If you have a friend whose ways are evil in the sight of the Lord, then he is a bad friend for the blessings and favor of God are far from such a person, and, on the whole, his impact on your life would be negative.
2. A bad friend is a friend who would betray you for power, money, etc.
A bad friend is a friend who would betray you for his selfish gains. Bad friends, as their name suggests do not care about well-being; rather, they care only about themselves. They do not mind letting you down if it will bring them financial gains. In history, Samson befriended a Philistine woman called Delilah out of love. Undoubtedly, Samson loved her so much. But she took advantage of it to betray Samson when she realized that she could get a whole lot of money from betraying him. A bad friend would betray you if it is profitable enough to do so.
3. A bad friend is a friend who tells lies.
A bad friend is a friend who lies to you. If you have a friend who habitually tells you lies and exaggerations then you should know for certain that you have a bad friend on your hands. Such a friend with a habit of lying can implicate you when something goes wrong.
4. A bad friend is a friend who gives you bad advice.
A bad friend is a friend who gives you bad advice. The wise King Solomon made a lot of mistakes despite all his wisdom. One such mistake is levying a heavy tax on the Israelites. When Rehoboam the son of Solomon was about to be crowned king, the people demanded that he should relieve them of this tax burden. Rehoboam’s wise counselors advised him to consent to the people’s demands.
However, his bad friends advised him not to consent to it and also told him to give a rude answer to the people. He listened to his friends and did what they advised him to do; hence he did not consent to their demands and, also, he gave them a rude response. The result was that the people of Israel rebelled and he lost the greater part of his kingdom; that is, ten of the twelve tribes of Israel broke away from Rehoboam’s kingdom, leaving him with the tribe of Judah.
5. A bad friend is a friend who turns out to be an opportunist.
A bad friend is a friend who hangs around with you just because of what he can gain from you. For such friends, if you lose everything, they go away or turn their backs on you. We have to critically look into the story of Job to see the attitude of bad friends. Job was the richest man of his time and he was doing good to a lot of people. Certainly, there were hundreds, if not thousands, of people who hung around him, pretending to be friends. But when he lost everything and was languishing in poverty and sore illness, and there was no hope of him ever becoming prosperous again, many of those who pretended to be friends broke ties with him and were gone. These are bad friends. However, in the climax of his troubles, three of his many friends, Eliphnd Bildad and Zophar, proved to be good friends for they visited him, and mourned with him for days.
6. A bad friend is a friend who has a bad reputation.
A bad friend is a friend who has a bad reputation. Long ago, there was a king called Ahab. He got married to a Sidonian princess called Jezebel. This pair was the most bloodthirsty couple ever recorded in the Bible. During their bloody reign, they killed an innocent man called Naboth so that they could usurp his vineyard for themselves. They embarked on purging the kingdom of Israel of the prophets of God, killing many of them. The few that remained, in fear, went into hiding.
Around that same time, there was a good, god-fearing king called Jehoshaphat, who for whatever reason, befriended this infamous, bloodthirsty couple.
Today, many Bible readers are baffled and they wonder why King Jehoshaphat took a liking to this evil king, Ahab. When you befriend someone with a bad reputation, you soil your own reputation too for people will judge you and will think of you to be a bad person because it is widely believed that birds of the same feathers flock together.
7. A bad friend is a friend who does not set a good example.
A bad friend is a friend who does not set good examples. In life, we learn from one another. Hence, your choices, lifestyle, attitude, etc. are influenced by people and you also influence others. Therefore if you have a friend whose ways are immoral and he does not set any good example for you to emulate, then it is time to realize that you have a bad friend on your hands to get rid of, lest, with time, you would copy either all or some of his bad ways and you would corrupt your ways and it shall not be well with you. This is why the Bible says:
24 Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person, do not associate with one easily angered, 25 or you may learn their ways and get yourself ensnared. (Proverbs 22:24-25)
8. A bad friend is a friend who is ashamed of you.
If you are in a friendship with someone who barely finds the boldness to call you or regard you as a friend in the presence of other people, he is a bad friend or he is not a good friend of yours yet. If your friend is more or less shy of you in the presence of other people, or he is more or less cold towards you in public, or he barely finds it convenient to be in your company, or he would rather prefer being in the company of others rather than yours in public, you have a bad friend. Even Jesus does not want to have anything to do with those who are ashamed of Him; so He said,
For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’s, and of the holy angels (Luke 9:26).
Bible verses about Bad friends
Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me. (Psalm 41:9)
Don’t be deceived! “Evil companionships corrupt good morals.” (1 Corinthians 15:33 WEB)
He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed. (Proverbs 13:20 KJV)
24 Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person, do not associate with one easily angered, (Proverbs 22:24 KJV)