[537 words]
The wise man himself, Solomon, tells us not to get close to:
People who are always changing their mind. “Meddle not with them that are given to change” (Prov. 24:21). You can’t depend on these people. You can’t trust them. They have no convictions or principles. They change with the situation. They are doubleminded and two-faced. Solomon warns, “Their calamity shall rise suddenly” (Prov. 24:22).
People who can’t control their temper. “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). Their temper gets them into trouble, but they never learn from their mistakes (Prov. 19:19). If you don’t want problems, don’t hang around people who are like this. “Anger resteth in the bosom of fools” (Eccles. 7:9).
People who like to drink and party. “Be not among winebibbers: among riotous eaters of flesh” (Prov. 23:20). Regardless of how they act, they are not really happy; and they don’t have a promising future. The preacher warns in the next verse, “For the drunkard and the glutton shall come to poverty: and drowsiness shall clothe a man with rags” (Prov. 23:21). You will be worse, not better, if you hang around them. You may even start to think that the way they live is not so bad after all.
People who are downright foolish. “Go from the presence of a foolish man, when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge” (Prov. 14:7). Don’t think you can reason with him. Don’t argue with him. “If a wise man contendeth with a foolish man, whether he rage or laugh, there is no rest” (Prov. 29:9). “Speak not in the ears of a fool: for he will despise the wisdom of thy words” (Prov. 23 :9).
People who deceive and manipulate through flattery. “He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth secrets: therefore meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips” (Prov. 20:19). An insincere compliment is a setup. The flatterer is trying to get something from you—money, information, or favors. “A man that flattereth his neighbor spreadeth a net for his feet” (Prov. 29:5).
People who are seductive and immoral. Solomon’s advice to young men about a strange woman is this: “Remove thy way far from her, and come not nigh the door of her house” (Prov. 5:8). Don’t mess around with people like this. Don’t play with fire. If you must speak to people like this, be brief and business-like. It’s better to be thought unfriendly than to be lured into sin.
The people you are around have an effect on you. The more you are with them, the more you will be like them. “Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners” (1 Cor. 15:33). We can either listen to the Bible or we can learn the hard way, but we’ll never get around this principle. If you think you’re the exception, you’ll find out different.
If you want to be good, associate with good people. If you want to be the best you can be, be around the best people you know. “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed” (Prov. 13:20).
Kerry Duke
West End church of Christ
Livingston, TN