Walking with the wise

One of my pastor’s favorite passages is this one,

He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.  (Proverbs 13:20)

He points out that it doesn’t say that a companion of fools becomes foolish, although we can certainly make foolish decisions by hanging out with fools.

But it says that a companion of fools suffers harm.  When we hang around people that are foolish, it can get us into all kinds of trouble.

How often in your life can you look back and see the truth of that statement?  You hung out with the wrong crowd, and got pulled into the stupid things they were doing, and paid the price for it.

I’m not saying that we should never spend time with non-Christians.  If we never spent time with non-Christians, we could never fulfill the great commission that God has given us to make disciples of all nations.

But the question is, “Who is influencing who?”  Are you influencing them, or are they influencing you?

One thing that we can do to make sure that it is the former is to consciously make the decision to hang out with those who are not just Christians, but wise Christians.  Christians who are walking with the Lord daily, and are constantly listening to his voice.

Because when we hang out with these types of people, God often speaks to us through them.  And his words bring life.

So who are you walking with?  Are you walking with the wise?  Or with fools? 

Are you getting your advice from those who are walking with God and hearing from him?  Or are you getting it from those whose advice would lead you into disaster?