“He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.” (Prov. 13:20)
There is an old saying, “Birds of a feather flock together,” meaning that people tend to hang around with others just like themselves. I’ve seen this happen year after year at teen camp when I was a youth pastor. Within hours of arriving at camp, I would see teens in my youth group finding teens in other youth groups that were just like them. The most rebellious teen would somehow find another rebellious teen and the most spiritual teen would somehow locate other spiritual teens to hang around. It’s really an amazing thing to watch.
But this verse isn’t so much talking about what IS but what WILL BE. It gives us a glimpse into our future when we decide to walk, or hang around with, certain types of people.
FIRST—It talks about those who are WISE.
“He that walketh with wise men shall be wise…” If you associate with wise men, you will become wiser, yourself. It is a scriptural principle: if you want to become a better Christian, choose better Christians than yourself to walk with. Find someone who is closer to God than you are and walk with them because “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise…”
SECOND—It talks about those who are FOOLISH.
“..but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.” Make no mistake about it, we are influenced by those around us, and the Bible says that when you choose to be friends with a foolish person, it will end up destroying you. In other words, just as the positive character traits of a wise man will affect you positively, the negative character traits of a foolish friend will negatively affect you. Proverbs says it this way:
“Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.” (Prov. 22:24-25)
In other words, when you choose to be friends with a fool, you are walking right into a “snare” of Satan that will affect your very “soul.” How many young people never intended to start smoking or drinking, but because the friends they were hanging around with pressured them, they gave in?
Take inventory, this morning, of the types of friends you are walking with. Are they wise or foolish? Does their friendship encourage you to get closer to God, or does it lead you further away from what you know is right?
If your friends are foolish friends, don’t keep waking WITH them, you need to walk AWAY from them!