“Show me your friend, I’ll tell you who you are.” This is a popular saying that cautions everyone on choice of a friend. Yes, the kind of friends you‘re surrounding yourself with; are indeed a reflection of who you are. Another popular saying, “Birds of the same feather flock together,” buttresses this fact. Therefore, make friends with people who will elevate you spiritually, intellectually, morally and economically. How do you choose your friend? BETTY AMUKPO interrogates some children. Their responses:
‘Choosing your friend is like choosing another stage of your life’
A friend is someone who cares for you and is there to support you. A friend is one of the most important things that should never be lost. Choosing a friend is like choosing another stage of your life. It’s like choosing a responsibility. Proverbs 17:17 says, “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity.” When choosing a friend you always need to choose wisely. So I would advise you to seek help from God when choosing a friend, so he will help you choose the right person for you.

• Blossom Akalezi
‘Make friends with someone with good character’
Choose your friends wisely. The righteous choose their friends carefully. Make friends with someone with good character, values and knows more about God’s word not with someone with egoistic status or a hot tempered person. Choose a friend who gives wise advice, a friend who will always stand in truth with you whenever the need calls for it. Proverbs 13:20 says, “Choose your friends wisely, the wrong friends will get you down.” Romans 12:10 says, “a true friend remains loyal when troubles come.” A Christian friendship is based upon a shared devotion to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

• Chima Anita.
‘I choose my friends based on the love they have for God and people’
I choose my friends based on the love they have for people and the word of God. Having love for the word of God and people will definitely make positive impact in the life of those you are friends with. The book of 1 John 4:7 also highlights the essence of love in choosing friends which reads, “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.”

• Eyinade Gideon
‘Your choice of friends is very important; they can influence you negatively or positively’
Friendship is a major agent of socialisation in our society. It brings people of similar age brackets together. Your choice of friends is very important because your friends can influence you negatively or positively. Proverbs 27:17 says; “As iron sharpens iron so a friend sharpens a friend.” I choose friends who have interests that are similar to mine and will help me achieve my goals.

• Ifeanyi Roderick Ogini
‘Choose friends who are de- pendable and fear God’
Who is a friend? A friend is a person with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, typically one exclusive of sexual or family relations. How do you choose your friend? 1. Choose your friends based on their values, not their status in society. 2. Choose friends who are dependable. Friends who put your interest before their own? 3. Choose friends who give wise counsel: It is okay to meet a friend in making a wise decision in your life. It is written in Proverbs1:5: “Let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance.” Proverbs 11:14 states, “Where there is no counsel, the people fall, but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.” Seek God first to consistently make wise decisions. What does God say about making the right decision? According to Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.”

• Ojimmadu Sandra
‘Choose your friends based on their values, not status in the society’
Choose friends who exhibit good character. Choose your friends based on their values, not their status in society. Choose friends who are dependable. Choose friends who will stand by you when you need them to guide you aright. Choose friends who give wise counsel. In Proverbs 22:24-25, it is written, “Do not make friends with a hot-tempered man, do not associate with one easily angered, or you may learn his ways and get yourself ensnared.” The Good News bible: Choose your friends wisely and avoid those who are quick to anger, or that anger may affect you.

• Okononfua Bryan
‘Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person’
I make friends with people who give wise counsel, friends who have fear of God and prayerful. In Proverbs 12:26, it is written, “The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.” Proverbs 22:24-25 states, “Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person, do not associate with one who is easily angered or you may learn their ways and get yourself ensnared. As a child of God, always be wise and put God first in anything you are doing.

• Umennadi Francis Chibunna
‘Choose friends who bring out the best in you’
I choose my friends carefully. The Bible tells us to choose our friends very carefully, because he who walks with wise people will become wise himself, but that he who keeps company with fools will be destroyed. Dear friends, choose friends who bring out the best in you and friends who support and nurture your relationship with God. 1 Corinthians 15:33 states, “Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”

• Gerald Anthony