-Charles Spurgeon
"You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you."
-Dale Carnegie
"A friend is one to whom one may pour out all the contents of one's heart, chaff and grain together, knowing the gentlest of hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping, and with a breath of kindness, blow the rest away."
-Sunshine
"My best friend is the one who brings out the best in me."
-Henry Ford
"It's better to keep a friend from falling than to help him up."
-Arnold Glasow
"A valuable friend is one who'll you what you should be told, even if it offends you."
-Frank A. Clark
"Whoever walks with the wise will become wise; whoever walks with fools will suffer harm."
-Proverbs 13:20 NLT
You've heard it before and you'll hear it again, "You become who you run with." I believe it was Ben Franklin who said, "If you lie down with dogs, you'll wake up with fleas."
Friendships are important but not as important as being friendly. Today the focus is on having friends instead of being friendly. With that in mind--having friends-- we'll take a look at this proverb, "Whoever walks with the wise will become wise; whoever walks with fools will suffer harm" (Proverbs 13:20).
"Wounds from a friend are better than many kisses from an enemy" (Proverbs 27:6). "As iron sharpens iron, a friend sharpens a friend" (Proverbs 27:17). We often fail to catch the true life-changing value of these verses because we value friends more than we value friendship. When our focus is friends, too often our thinking is, "What can I get out of this?" When our focus is friendship, our thinking is, "What can I give to this relationship?"
True friendships value wounds from a friend. Those wounds are often the results of the iron sharpening iron process. People do get hurt when wounded. It will be the attitude of the wounded that will determine the healing process and results.
We have two choices here . . . two destinations: wisdom or harm. Both destinations are linked heavily with friendship: Run with the wise, get wise. Run with fools, suffer harm. I think it is much easier for adults to heed this passage than it is for students. There seems to be an urge to merge. There's always that, "How many friends do you have on Facebook?" mentality as if a higher number of friends brings more happiness, accomplishment and love. I have not yet come upon a verse in the Bible telling us to have friends. I have, however, seen many verses in Proverbs dealing with the characteristics of being a good friend.
There are two questions we must ask as we consider this verse:
1. Will I choose to walk with the wise or will I choose to walk with the fools? That's not hard to answer, is it? We all want to walk with the wise and to learn from them.
2. Will those who walk with me walk with the wise or walk with the fool? That's more personal, isn't it? Where do we want to lead our friends? What about our families, children, grandkids? Will they walk with the wise?
A folk group, The New Christy Minstrels, did a song in the 60's that will probably never be sung in churches but it does (with some humor) take a look at the need for healthy realtionships:
It was early last september
as well as I remember
While strolling through the park in tipsy pride.
Not a word did I utter
as I lay down in the gutter
And this pig came up and lay down by my side.
Not a soul was I disturbing
as I lay there by the curbing
When this high-toned lady stopped
and I heard her say,
"You may tell someone who boozes
by the company he chooses."
And the pig got up and slowly walked away!
We are known by the company we keep . . . and the company we keep is known by the company it keeps!
Where are we leading?
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