Day 9 — Walk with the Wise

“He who walks with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.”

— Proverbs 13:20 (BSB)

Have you ever noticed that after you spend a lot of time with a friend, you start talking like them? You use the same words, laugh at the same things and like the same shows. Friends rub off on each other!

That can be a really good thing, or a really bad thing. It depends on who your friends are.

Proverbs says, “He who walks with the wise will become wise.” If you spend time with people who love God, make good choices and treat others kindly, you’ll grow in those things too. But “the companion of fools will be destroyed.” In the Bible, a fool isn’t someone who isn’t smart. A fool is someone who ignores God and makes foolish, harmful choices. If those are the people you spend the most time with, you’ll start to become like them.

The apostle Paul put it this way: “Bad company corrupts good character” (1 Corinthians 15:33). Think about a basket of apples. If one apple is rotten, and you leave it in the basket, soon the apples around it start to rot too. It doesn’t usually work the other way around. The good apples don’t make the rotten one fresh again.

Does this mean you should only be nice to kids who are “good”? No! Jesus was kind to everyone, including people others looked down on. We should be friendly and kind to everyone.

But there’s a difference between being kind to someone and choosing them as your closest friends, the ones who shape who you become. Your closest friends should be people who help you follow God, not pull you away from Him.

Here are some questions to ask about your close friends:

• Do they encourage me to do what’s right?
• Do I feel pressure to do things I know are wrong when I’m with them?
• Do they respect my faith?
• Am I becoming a better person because of this friendship?

And flip it around: are you the kind of friend who helps others become wise?

Think about it: Think about your closest friends. Are they helping you become wiser, or pulling you the wrong way?

Try this: Thank a wise friend today for being a good influence on you. Tell them one specific way they’ve helped you.

Dear God, help me choose friends who will help me become wise and follow You. Help me be kind to everyone, but wise about who my closest friends are. And help me be a friend who helps others become wise too. In Jesus’ name, Amen.