The Company You Keep

Psalm 16:1-6

      It matters who you spend time with in your life. The company we keep makes a huge difference in the direction that our lives take. Godly counsel can make the difference between destiny and disaster. We must choose wisely.

      I am sure you have had a friend or two who just weren’t good for you. I hope you have left them by now. We all begin friendships with people only to discover later that their advertising and promotional materials were misleading. We think they might be a good friend potentially, but then as we spend time with them we discover a very different person under the surface, one that we don’t like.

      Our psalm begins with a simple prayer for safety. It is direct and to the point. Sometimes our prayers can be this simple and direct. The quantity of words does not determine the quality of the prayer. “Keep me safe.”

      Safety is one of our most basic needs. When we are in danger, all of life gets out of whack. So the writer starts with the bottom line. He feels safe in the LORD’s presence. He has purposed in his heart to seek the safety of Almighty God. He is doing what all of us need to do, draw in close to Him. We need to do this at all times, not just during times of trouble. We draw in close during the good times in thanksgiving. We make that path a well-worn path, a familiar path. We get used to turning to Him. Than when the troubles come, our nature is to turn in faith to Him.

      Think of it this way. If you have never been to the emergency exit in a large building, now would be a good time to get to know where they are. During a fire is not the time to be searching for the exit doors. You need to know where they are, noting them in your brain. Your feet need to have walked to them with the express purpose of being safe.

      The same applies to your home escape plans. Your children need to climb down the ladders hung from their windows, or out onto the porch roof and jump into your arms. It is not enough to talk about it; it must be practiced. They need to practice crawling along the floor.

      The writer sees two types of people in his land, those who align with him in his reliance on the LORD, and those who seek false gods. He doesn’t mention any middle ground. One thing that will probably stick in the throat of most Western believers is the phrase in verse two that states that without the LORD, we can’t have anything good. Or to state it another way, everything that is good has its origin in the LORD. We tend to want to take credit for some of the good that comes our way. We want to box off the LORD into certain areas of our life. Our writer doesn’t do that.

      I like the fact that this writer delights in those who are following the LORD. He rejoices with those who live as they should. And he makes a clear line between these noble ones, these holy people, and those who run after other empty sources of security. He acknowledges that the place where he dwells, the safety he enjoys is because of the LORD. This is both a physical boundary of land, but also a spiritual boundary. He has received the blessing of the LORD.

      Where are your boundary lines? Do they include some spiritual slums? Perhaps it is time to redraw your boundaries and recommit to seeking the good things of the LORD.

Rub Off

Proverbs 13:20

The people we hang around with will influence us. You will influence them as well. So choose your friends and companions wisely. Don’t fall into friendship, choose friends. We rub off on each other.

This is an important lesson often lost on so many people. We try to instill this lesson in our kids as they grow up, but sometimes forget that it applies to our lives as well.

Our proverb says that if we walk with the wise their wisdom will rub off on us. And the opposite is true as well. If we hang around with fools, we too will become a fool and gets a fool’s results. It works both ways. We know this instinctively, but often miss it when we live our lives.

I see it in the slow drift away from things that matter. Pastors often notice the “boat” Christians in their congregations. If the weather is nice they are on the boat rather than in church. I see it in the professional world, people picking up hobbies and attitudes in order to fit into the work culture and move up in the organization. Certain military units have attitudes and practices different than the whole. Join the unit and you become like them.

If you want to become like Christ then you must hang around with Him and with others who are on the same journey. This is one of the reasons for church. We need the influence of others in our lives who are choosing Christ.

This must be more than just sitting and staring at the back of the person in front of you for an hour. Relational connections must be made or we are participating in a spectators sport. If we don’t become involved in the life of the local church we are in danger of being influenced by other things more than Christ.

Have you found people to walk with whom you want to emulate in some positive attribute? Are you choosing what part of them you want to rub off on you?

Friends

Proverbs 12:26

The people we choose as friends can determine a lot about our future. Even if we stumble into a friendship we should evaluate it carefully. Will this person lead me closer to Christ or further away from Him? Is this an opportunity for me to lead them closer?

So there must be different kinds of friends. Some friends are brothers or sisters in Christ. We are there for each other, encouraging and challenging each other to live more fully for Christ. We support each other in our spiritual journey and are there to catch us before we fall. These kinds of friendship can grow deep and long without fear of them going adrift. And we need these to keep us connected to Christ.

Other kinds of friendships are cultivated for the purpose of being a witness to Christ. Choose these friendships based on the prompting of the Holy Spirit. These are cultivated over time giving the non-believer the chance to see Jesus lived out in the flesh. These relationships are not coercive in their witness, but rather authentic expressions of the God who loves them enough to walk beside them in their life’s journey.

Our proverb’s lesson is simple. We must choose our friends. We don’t just let them happen by accident. That is how non-believers get themselves in trouble. Friendships of convenience can easily lead us astray. We need to be purposeful in cultivating friendships, knowing why each one is being cultivated.

I know too many people who are led by peer group pressure. This isn’t something that only teenagers face. Many work relationships pull and push us in directions that we would normally not move. We allow the pressures to move us often because of our own fear of non-acceptance or loss of income. We are not choosing the friendship, it is happening to us. Someone else is making the choice.

The wicked just wander through life allowing others to make these kinds of decisions for them. They have little purpose and direction, or their purpose and direction is misguided. So their friendships often mirror their lack of definition about the role and purpose of friendships. Friends are people you party with! You hang out with friends.

Take time to examine your friendships. Are you choosing, or being chosen and for what purpose?