Question:
Is it wrong to be with unbelievers in school?
Answer:
The Bible tells us not to be completely separate from the unsaved, “for then must ye needs go out of the world” (1 Corinthians 5:9,10). In fact, the Lord has “sent” His disciples “into the world” (John 17:18) with the good news of God’s salvation. The Lord says: “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15).
The Lord prayed for His disciples whom He sent into the world: “I have given them Thy Word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through Thy truth: Thy Word is truth” (John 17:14, 17). The Christian is in the world, though he is not part of the world. And he is to be an example of Christ to the world, and tell them God’s wonderful message that “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” (1 Timothy 1:15). The Lord talked to sinners, tax-collectors, harlots, etc. and showed them love, but He never lowered His standards or did the sins they did. The apostle Paul said: “To the weak became I weak, that I might gain the weak: I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22).God warns us to be aware that contact with the world is going to have a bad affect on us. “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Corinthians 15:33). Putting gloves into a manure pile does not make the manure glovey, but it does make the gloves smell like manure. It is so much easier for someone to be pulled down, than to try to pull someone up. So in seeking to reach souls for Christ we must “abstain from all appearance of evil” (1 Thessalonians 5:22). Many times, unbelievers know our guidelines for a Christian life, and try to stumble us. Oftentimes they ask or question our doings, like Satan did to Eve, to try and trip us up. We need to be on the alert as to what we are doing at all times. “Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful” (Proverbs 27:6).