Wise Company – Proverbs 13:20

HuffPost.com has found that “Companies Led By Moral Bosses Are Actually More Profitable.”  “‘I was unprepared to discover how robust the connection really is,” KRW founder Fred Kiel said, per the Harvard Business Review, which first reported on the study.'”  Wisdom is justified by its results.

Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise,

but the companion of fools will suffer harm. (Proverbs 13:20, ESV)

This proverb is similar to 1 Corinthians 15:33, “Bad company corrupts good morals.”  We all recognize that those we spend the most time with influence us the most.  We often think of this in the negative.  I think of the three UCLA basketball players who shoplifted from several stores in China and almost didn’t come home.  They influenced each other to be stupid.

But Proverbs tells us that this principle works for the positive, as well.  If you hang with wise people your wisdom increases.  If you hang with good people, you become more good.  Says a lot about the kind of choices we need to make about our socializing, doesn’t it.

I have also found that this works for the good as I hang out with God.  I know that is probably a bit too familiar a way to say it, but I’m trying to emphasize that it is not keeping company with God if you don’t really personally connect with Him relationally.  That means, you are really listening to Him in prayer and Scripture reading, and really bearing your soul to Him as you speak to Him.  It is walking with Him as you would your best friend.  When you do you can’t help but be changed into His likeness.