2 Corinthians 6:14-18
Do Not Be Yoked With Unbelievers
14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:
“I will live with them
and walk among them,
and I will be their God,
and they will be my people.”
17 Therefore, “Come out from them
and be separate,
says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing,
and I will receive you.”
18 And, “I will be a Father to you,
and you will be my sons and daughters,
says the Lord Almighty.”
Hebrews 6:13-20
The Hope of God is the Anchor to My Soul
13 When God made his promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for him to swear by, he swore by himself, 14 saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.”[d] 15 And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised.
16 People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. 17 Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. 18 God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. 19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20 where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.
My sister believes one should surround themselves with positive people, so their minds do not get too muddled with negative thoughts and negative thinking...Constant everyday negative thinking is a symptom of anxiety, and can keep anxiety lingering...So her advice about keeping oneself positive and their thinking positive is well taken...
And when I hear her say this, I think of St. Paul's second letter to the Corinthians and what he tells them...
St. Paul takes this surrounding yourself with others to another level...St. Paul tells us not to yoke ourselves with unbelievers....And while all positive people and positive thinkers are not necessarily believers, St. Paul writes that Jesus does not mix with Belial, the evil one...Because Jesus and the evil one have no harmony when together...The same he says is true for the believer and the unbeliever...There is little harmony in the faith of the two...We can hear (and maybe hear to often from the true unbeliever) there is no God and we can be affected by this...When we are constantly together with unbelievers, if we listen to their ideas and thoughts of unbelief...It is a possibility that continuing thoughts about unbelief can create more thoughts of unbelief and we can get caught up in all the discussion and thinking of about those ideas and that is not a positive force for one's faith...
It is best to be yoked with friends, and where your fellowship is cloaked with those of faith and of hope in God...In His hope, we are greatly encouraged...Hope is the anchor to our souls...Those that trust in God and being around those that trust in God is good for the soul...