Series: Youth for Jesus, Number: Vol. 2, No. 33
“Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits.”” (1Cor 15:33NKJV)
One of the saddest things said about King Ahab of bible days was that he sold himself to do evil in the eyes of the Lord. And he did so with the encouragement of his wife, Jezebel. (Cf. 1Kings 19:25-26) Therefore, God judged him and his house ruthlessly, cutting off all his male descendants and destroying his wife in disgrace (1Kings 21:17-24; 2Kings 9-10:17).
Unfortunately, despite the fact that what happened to Ahab and his house was common knowledge in the land, we still found one foolish young prince that saw no other woman fit to be his wife other than one of this man’s daughters. Here is the bible’s commentary about him:
“When Jehoram established himself firmly over his father’s kingdom, he put all his brothers to the sword along with some of the princes of Israel. Jehoram was thirty-two years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years. He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, as the house of Ahab had done, for he married a daughter of Ahab. He did evil in the eyes of the LORD.” (2Chron 21:4-7NIV)
Did you see that? Why did Jehoram walk in the evil ways of the kings of Israel? Why did he end up killing his own brothers and some other princes in the land, men who were better than him, as pointed out in Scriptures? It was because he married a daughter of one of their kings, Ahab. And his association with that evil woman that was raised in an evil house destroyed whatever good that might have been in his life. So, he ended up being an evil king that everybody was happy to miss, when he eventually died after a short reign (2Chro 21:20).
But read about Jehoram’s father, Jehoshaphat, and his grandfather, Asa, and you will see that they were good and upright men, who loved God and served Him and their people with wholehearted devotion (2Chro 14-20). Why, then, did he not walk in the ways of these men? Was it because he had no goodness in him? No! Rather, it was because whatever measure of goodness that was in him was corrupted by his marriage to an evil woman.
All of this is why Paul warns us in a letter to the Corinthians not to be deceived or misled to think that we can use the good in us to change the bad in other people. And many people, including Christians, often make mistakes along this line, especially in marital matters. They foolishly allow themselves to fall in love with individuals who clearly have no character or a reputation for taking God seriously. And they do this under the notion that they will be able to change them, if they show them enough love or do them enough acts of kindness. Then, after they have been married for a while, the reality begins to dawn on them, which is that none of us has what it takes to change anybody. But by that time, much good will have been destroyed and, if God does not intervene in the matter, they themselves may be utterly ruined.
See, the only one who has all the goodness it takes in life to change all people is God. Yet He has not succeeded in changing all men, despite the fact that He has been exceedingly good and kind to them all (Ps 145:9; Matt 5:45). So, evil is not something that we, even if we are as wise as King Solomon, possess the ability to drive out of people’s lives, regardless of how good or upright we may be. On the contrary, it is something that possesses enough power to ruin us and corrupt us, if we unduly stay long enough in fellowship with those whose lives have been enslaved by it. This is why we are passionately warned in all Scriptures not to keep company with evil people. Otherwise they are going to corrupt us and make our lives unfit for the fulfilment of God’s good purpose here on earth. (Cf. 1King 11:1-11; Prov 22:24-25; 2Cor 6:14-18)
So, friend, if you are in friendship with anyone that does not take God seriously or someone that does not have a reputation for uprightness or goodness, you are into something that is capable of ultimately destroying you and everything that you hold dear. And the best thing you can do for yourself is to seek God’s help to get out of it, for it may not at all be easy for you to do so. But if you will do so, you will be glad someday that you did.
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