Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm. – Proverbs 13:20

Today’s Scripture Reading (August 27, 2016): Proverbs 13

One of my mom’s favorite sayings, usually because I wanted to wear my jean jacket to school in the dead of winter, was “if all of your friends jumped off a bridge, would you jump too?” My argument for my jean jacket was that it really wasn’t all that cold (after all, what is -20 between friends) and it was the dress of the other kids in my class, thus the “jumping off the bridge” response. But the comment made little impact on me. Jumping off a bridge to my certain death and wearing my jean jacket, and staying within my admittedly undeveloped fashion sense, to my certain discomfort seemed to be two very different things. No, I would not jump off of the bridge if my friends all jumped off, yet I still want to wear my jean jacket to school.

But mom’s concerns were not without merit. To a certain extent we are the company we keep. Our friends and colleagues exert an unbelievable force on our lives. So much of what we believe is determined by our social contacts. What we deem to be permissible or true is often defined by the people with whom we spend our time. Whatever your goal is for your life, the best way to make sure that you achieve that objective is to hang out with people who have reached, or are at least making strides toward, their own similar goals. Do you want to be socially aware? Make sure that your friends are socially aware. Do you want to acquire wealth? Then hang around and follow the activities of the wealthy. Do you want to learn to be stupid? Yeah, I know what I want to say, but it might not be politically expedient. The problem is that stupid seems to excel in some of our social media contacts.

This is exactly the advice that Proverbs gives to us. If you want to be wise, then hang around with people who are wise. Don’t argue with them other than to strengthen your own wisdom, allow their wisdom to seep into you. Or you can hang around with fools and allow my mother’s greatest fear to become a reality in your life – you can follow your friends as they all jump off of the proverbial bridge.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Proverbs 14