DO NOT (PART 2) – WATCH WHO YOU’RE INFLUENCED BY

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk.com.

In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person, do not associate with one easily angered, or you may learn their ways and get yourself ensnared.

Proverbs 22:24-25           

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Have you ever been adversely influenced by someone else?

I’m afraid this happens a lot today.

I believe we can trace the roots of the problem back to youth. Although it gets harder and harder to remember much about my younger days, I do know that my parents would caution me about watching who I would associate with. There were plenty of options when it came to the friends you decided to make, some good and some bad. The trick was being careful about who you chose to run around with.

The choice really came down to one thing and that was staying out of trouble. Choose the wrong crowd to associate with and you could easily follow them right down the road of transgression. Conversely, choose the right crowd and you would build a good reputation for yourself and avoid being an embarrassment to your parents.

This wise teaching from my parents was important in my days of youth and it’s obviously still wise and important teaching today. We know this because it is central to the scriptures we are looking at as we study saying number 3 of Solomon’s 30 sayings of the wise. Yesterday, I mentioned we would look at a series of “do not’s” within these sayings. The first warning was to not mistreat the poor. Today’s warning is in the following two verses:

Do not make friends with a hot-tempered person, do not associate with one easily angered, or you may learn their ways and get yourself ensnared. Proverbs 22:24-25

Did you catch the “do not”? It’s all about watching who we are influenced by.

Make friends with a hot tempered person and you may end up being just like them, finding yourself in trouble. This could be applied to any number of other matters.

Make friends with someone who has a bad attitude about life and you could find your own attitude going bad.

Make friends with someone who consistently uses profanity and before you know it, the words coming out of your mouth will be profane.

Make friends with someone who has no morals and your moral compass may start pointing south and away from the Lord’s will and way.

You get the point. The matter of association is critical when it comes to keeping our behavior in check and avoiding falling prey to temptation and the accompanying sin it brings.

So who are you hanging out with these days and how are they influencing who you are?

Maybe as you enter a new year, it would be a good time to assess this and make adjustments as needed but I would be remiss in leaving out another important point that needs to be said here. For the way of influence can go two ways and in a positive sense.

What I mean is that we can have a positive influence on others and bring them to a behavior more compatible with the Lord’s expectations. In other words, this word of God does not tell us to run the other way when we are in the company of sinners. If that were the case, none of us would ever stop running. No, the word tells us to be careful about who we allow to influence us. As Christians, we need to always be seeking to influence others for Christ Jesus.

We are to do this because Jesus Himself did it. You’ll recall that He never hesitated to hang out with those who the Jewish establishment shunned. They wouldn’t give the sinners the time of day but Jesus gave them His time as much as He hung out with those who were living in righteousness. When asked why He was doing this in the instance of eating with sinners and tax collectors, you may remember His words:

“It is not the healthy who need a doctor but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.” Mark 2:17

Today, there are still so many sinners out there who are sick and perishing and don’t even know it. They need to be influenced for Christ just as much as the sinners and tax collectors Jesus hung out but there’s only one problem. Jesus isn’t here in body anymore. That’s where we come in for we are to stand in for Jesus, allowing Him to influence others through us so He can draw them from their sin to righteousness and a relationship with the only One who can save them now and forever more.

As we enter 2014, let’s make a renewed commitment to let Christ influence us toward influencing others, expanding and furthering His kingdom here on earth along the way.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com