From Lenae, GEMS Training Manager
CHOOSE WISE FRIENDS
Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.
Proverbs 13:20
As soon as Rehoboam was inaugurated king, Jeroboam, and the Israelites said to him: “Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but now lighten the harsh labor and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you” (2 Chronicles 10:4). Rehoboam told them to return in three days for his answer. In the meantime he sought wisdom from the elders who counseled his father Solomon and from the young men who had grown up with him.
The elders advised that he be kind and considerate to the people and they will always be quick to serve him. The young men recommended he take the heavy yoke Solomon originally put on them and make it heavier still.
King Rehoboam rejected the wisdom of the elders and listened to his foolish companions. After Rehoboam’s position as king was established and he had become strong, he and all Israel with him abandoned the law of the LORD (2 Chronicles 12:1).
Rehoboam made two foolish mistakes. He rejected wise counsel and failed to seek God’s wisdom. His unwise choices led to a divided kingdom and a nation that abandoned God and His ways.
If only Rehobaom had heeded Solomon’s words of wisdom in Proverbs 13:20: Walk with the wise and become wise, for the companion of fools suffers harm. One of the best choices we can make to influence more wise choices is to choose wise, godly friends.
Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character” (1 Corinthians 15:33). That’s true for children and teens, and holds true for our relationships as well. Our friends are either cultivating or corrupting our character. They are shaping us through word and example to be wise or to be fools.
Like Rehobaom we are influenced and we are influencers. We are led and we lead. Rehoboam was influenced by his foolish friends and influenced the entire nation to rebel against God and His commands.
How about you and me? Who are your closest friends? How are they influencing you and how are you influencing them? Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers. For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction (Psalm 1:1, 6).
Wisdom Step: Take a thoughtful inventory of your closest companions. Ask God to provide clear direction in the friends you choose.
Constant exposure to those who are wise will have a residual effect upon one’s life. You cannot remain the same, if you have a wise man or woman as your friend.
John A. Kitchen
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