A friend's advice
"Well," Jonadab said, "I'll tell you what to do. Go back to bed and pretend you are ill. When your father comes to see you, ask him to let Tamar come and prepare some food for you. Tell him you'll feel better if she prepares it as you watch and feeds you with her own hands." (NLT) 2 Samuel 13:5
Friends can make or unmake us. Just take a good look at your own life. A greater portion of it has been shaped by the kind of friends and associates you allowed in your inner circle.
I realised this truth very early in life. I was not a good student in primary school. I loved playing a lot; reading was not my thing. Learning was burdensome for me and occasionally I shirked my homework responsibilities. Not surprisingly, all the friends I had did same. In junior high school (JHS) I turned over a new leaf. I realised to my chagrin that I had wasted my primary days. Whiles some of my nerdy classmates were running to the library to narrate the books they read the night before in order to snatch the coveted "highest narrating member" award, I was running helter-skelter with my playmates in a "cats-and-dogs" game. There was no way I was going to make it to the senior high school I ended up attending if I had not shunned my playful friends. Thank God I did and in JHS I became more of a book nerd. That has stuck with me until now and it has literally transformed my life for the better.
Beloved, my elders have a saying that "Bad friends made the crab headless". Just look at the advice Jonadab gave Amnon - very suicidal. A good friend is one who will look you in the eye and tell you, "Buddy, you're wrong! Change your ways", not one who will endorse your wrong and even give you ideas to implement them. Personally, some of my best friends are older than me. They are matured Christians who have earned my respect. They keep my life in checks and balances and there is no telling the kind of man I am growing into.
Never forget what Scriptures says in 1 Corinthians 15:33 "Don’t be fooled by those who say such things, for bad company corrupts good character" (NLT).