Company We Keep

Proverbs 13:20 Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm.

One of the best ways to tell the character of a person is to see the company they keep. We tend to either influence other people toward our values or we get influenced by them toward their values. The people we value in life matter.

I remember when I was growing up my parents told me to choose my friends carefully. This usually happened at the beginning of each year. And in many ways they were right. The people we hang around with do make a difference in our life.

During my High School years I had a group of people that I hung around with that had a common purpose. We were all part of the Band, and the Band was a huge thing at my High School. People would come to the football games to see the band perform at halftime. Our band won world competitions!

And there were standards in the Band. You had to keep your grades up. You had to make all the practices and performances. You had to memorize you music. You had to pass the auditions!

You also had to listen to our director. Mr Barr was our director. He was fantastic! He seemed to care about us as people. He wanted to bring the best out of us and out of the Band. And he did it very well.

We responded to Mr Barr’s direction by becoming the best Band members we could. He pushed us at our instruments and we responded by pushing ourselves. He aimed for perfection and we tried to give it to him.

This didn’t mean that we didn’t rub shoulders with everyone else in school, but that the people we brought into our inner circle, those we spent the most time and energy with, were Band members. Those that had the most influence in our lives had Mr Barr as their leader.

Now you many not have had a Band like I did, or even a Mr Barr. But you did have someone with whom you most of your free time. And even now, you spend time with others, either bringing them into your inner circle or joining their inner circle.

Our Proverb today tells us the importance of the people we choose to influence us. Walking is emblematic of living life with, getting close to, investing time in. We know this because it is parallel to “companion” in the second phrase. This is more than an acquaintance; this is someone close.

So who are you letting into your inner circle?