“The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.”
This is another regular theme of Solomon’s that plays itself out throughout scripture. Over the decades I’ve watched this truth in the lives of young people as well as adults. A couple years ago I mentioned that my wife and I had one Bible verse hanging on our refrigerator door during our children’s teenage years. They hated it. Mainly because they knew it was true and didn’t want to be reminded of this truth. They occasionally argued with us trying to tell us it was not true. In response I would tell them that they were not arguing with us, they were arguing with God. It was His word not ours. Paul wrote to the Corinthians that we should, “not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”” Pretty straight forward. Solomon is telling us the same thing in this passage. People who never read the Bible know this is true. Only in the movies does a good person immerse themselves into a group with a bad culture and change all the bad folks into good people. As Solomon tells, the course chosen by bad people will drag others down with them. It’s like a magnet, it tugs at the good person’s heart, soul and desires. As a result of being surrounded by evil temptations very few will find they are able to resist. We should never walk into those situations alone. Scripture reminds us that two or three of us walking together have a better chance of overcoming evil than trying on our own. Today flee evil influences and walk with fellow followers of God. #BeTheEdge
“Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.”Ecclesiastes 4:12 NIV
