Sermonette- Friends

"Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.”

Proverbs 13:20

The book of Proverbs is a book of advice from Solomon, to his son. The son is not named, but presumably Solomon desires for his all of his sons, including Rehoboam who will be king once he is gone, to have the wisdom to lead well. Amongst the many nuggets of wisdom, is this little jewel.

Solomon encourages his son to pay attention to who he surrounds himself with. He points to the truth that our personal wisdom is revealed by who we choose to hang out with. Often, friendships are formed by happenstance, but the ones who stay around are the ones who we appreciate. By looking at the people who surround us, we get a snapshot of what kind of people we appreciate. Do we value wisdom? Do we value humor? Do we value gossip? Do we value sarcasm? The true answers to these questions are revealed by the people we keep around us.

Beyond that, however, we can have confidence that our friends will come to influence the kind of people we are. Even the strongest personality will be eroded, or built up by the people around us over time. We choose our friends, and over time we begin to reflect our friends. If we are intentional about spending time with the kind of people we’d like to be, we’ll likely move towards our goal. If we hang out with the kind of people we don’t want to imitate but who make us happy; likely we’ll find ourselves talking and acting in ways we don’t appreciate. No one is immune to the influence of the people we hang out with.

Solomon’s son Rehoboam made this mistake. He let his first decision as king be influenced by the fools he surrounded himself with and it cost him most of the country. Be wiser than Rehoboam. Take some time and recognize who you surround yourself with. Then, be intentional about being around the kind of people who make you better, and not worse.