Be. Wise.

Proverbs 13:20 “He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed”

This verse is a good verse for us a Christians, as well as just plain good advice.  Actually in many success type books today, this verse is the underlying theme.  What Solomon is saying here is that you want to surround yourself with people who are smarter, more mature, and more capable than you are.  This doesn’t mean that you should shun others, but that the people who you let impact you the MOST should be people like I just described.  If you’re are a normal and regular person (I do have my doubts about some of you:P) you WANT to learn more and be becoming a better person, because guess what…the more you learn and the better you become, the more influence you will have!  For us Christians that is a good thing because obviously we want to have more people that we can influence for Christ.  The last part of the verse is just as important to me as the first part is.  In case you didn’t get what Solomon was saying, let me make it clear for you…DON’T BE AROUND STUPID PEOPLE!!!  I think that we’ve all seen people who this has happened to.  They start out great and really awesome…then…they hang out and become friends with that one person that really isn’t all the great in all areas of life.  Then they become friends with his friends, and start spending more time hanging out with that crowd and letting those people influence them and ‘direct’ their lives, and as a result they just get on a downhill slope in life.  If you think about it, it actually makes plenty of sense.  A ‘fool’ doesn’t WANT to become better.  They are content with where they are in life, because they don’t want to work to become better.  Then someone comes along to the ‘fool’ and ‘lowers the bar’ and they go along with it…after a period of time those people who were a type ‘5’ person at were content with being there, are now down at a ‘1’ or ‘2’ type person.  Also a type ‘10’ person who gets around ‘fools’ can become a ‘5’ or ‘4’ type person because they have let those stupid people influence them and drag them down.  Becoming friends or hanging around foolish and stupid people is just a downhill path…sometimes morally and in intelligence/wisdom…sometimes spiritually…and sometimes BOTH!  Make sure that your friends who you’re close with are pushing/pulling you to a higher standard in all areas of your life.  Please…don’t be friends with people who are going to drag you down to their level in life.