Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Friends and Associates”
Our Bible verse for today: “The one who walks with the wise will become wise, but a companion of fools will suffer harm.” Proverbs 13:20 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Who you associate with matters.”
As we end our devotional study on the theme of “Friends and Associates” I want to conclude where we began, with the understanding that who you associate with matters very much. This is a point that God makes repeatedly all throughout the Bible many times and in many ways.
Joshua became the man he was largely because of his close association with Moses. King David was retrieved from the depths of grievous sin as a result of his friendship with the prophet Nathan. The three Hebrew boys in Daniel chapter three strengthened each other as they faced the fiery furnace. In the book of Acts we find the early Christians thriving in the face of terrible persecution only because they had each other to rely on and depend upon. The Apostle Paul needed his friend Barnabas, while Timothy and Silas grew into the men God wanted them to be as a result of their association with Paul. And on it goes.
Of course the opposite is true too. I encourage you to do a study of your own sometime to see how many examples in the Bible you can find of situations when a poor choice of friends, associates, and counselors ended in disaster. You might want to look in Exodus chapter sixteen to read about the time that 250 men foolishly sided with Korah, Dathan, and Abiram instead of with Moses and Aaron. It cost them their lives. Or you could go to Acts chapter twenty-seven and read about the centurion and ship captain who relied on their own counsel instead of that from the Apostle Paul. The ship sank.
I love the way Eugene Peterson renders Proverbs 13:20 in his paraphrase of the Bible, “The Message”, “Become wise by walking with the wise; hang out with fools and watch your life fall to pieces.”
As we turn the corner into 2016 I challenge all of us to consider carefully who our friends and associates have been, and will be. You become like those you associate with. So choose your friends carefully.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 