Series: Youth for Jesus
Number: Vol. 8, No. 34
“He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.” (Prov 13:20NIV)
Who is this instruction given to? Every one of us! And what is the point of the instruction? It is that we are to choose our companions carefully. Now, of course, it is not in every situation that we are privileged to choose who gets to be in our lives. For instance, we did not get to choose our biological parents, children, siblings and other blood relatives. They were all chosen for us by God. And whether they are good, bad, beautiful or ugly, we just have to learn to live with them.But then, there are situations in which we can choose who stays in our lives and who doesn’t stay or who does certain things with us and who doesn’t. And it is in such situations that Solomon, as we see in our opening text, tells us to choose carefully.
What main thing, then, should we consider in choosing who stays in our lives and who doesn’t stay, when we have the right to make that choice? Their possession of wisdom or foolishness! Why? Well, the reason is that the character or disposition of anyone that we choose as our companion in life will naturally rob off on us, to one degree or the other. Therefore, if our companion is a wise person, our walk with them will expose our lives to some measure of the wisdom in their life.
That being the case, even if we have been given to doing foolish things, we will find ourselves beginning to do some things right in our lives. In like manner, if our companion is a foolish person, our walk with them will expose us to some of the foolishness in their life. And if we are not discerning enough, we will find ourselves acting foolish in some areas of our lives, even though that may be occasional.
Unfortunately, an occasional expression of foolishness may sometimes be costlier than an entire lifetime of foolishness. For instance, Rehoboam lost the larger portion of the kingdom his father Solomon passed down to him because of just one act of foolishness. He listened to the companion of fools that he had kept around himself. And though he later went on to start acting in wisdom, all the other steps of wisdom he took could not recover for him what he had lost through his one act of foolishness. What a shame! (Cf. 1Kings 12 & 2Chro 10)
But look at the early apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ. Most of them were uneducated and unwise by natural standards when He called them. But by walking with Him long enough, they all became sages, wise men that shook kingdoms with their lives and teachings of wisdom (Acts 4:13 & 26:24).
Therefore, if you want to continually act wise in all that you do, don’t choose any foolish person as a friend, business partner or life companion. Otherwise, foolishness will only keep on multiplying itself in your life. And who knows how terrible that may be for you?But then, how do you know whether someone you intend to choose as a companion is wise or foolish? You yourself need some measure of wisdom to know that. And may God freely supply you with whatever measure of wisdom you need to always choose wise companions for your life, in Jesus’ name. Amen.Cheers!
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