"I Had These Friends. . ."

"Do not make friends with a hot-tempered man. Do not associate with one easily angered, or you may learn his ways and get yourself ensnared."
                                                              Proverbs 22:24-25

"I had these friends..." It's amazing how often that starts the explanation of where the wheels came off in life. Relationships have a powerful impact on our lives. The characteristics of our closest friends are contagious. Your friend's common phrases make their way into your every day vocabulary. Or a friend's taste in music could find itself in your radio's presets or music collection.

Vocabulary or music tastes are two common characteristics to catch, but there are many other contagious elements in relationships. Bad habits like smoking or binge drinking can creep into your life unnoticeably as a result of time spent together, so we have to be extremely careful who we spend our time with.

But the Bible points out that one of the most dangerous personality traits that we can pick up from a friend is a hot-temper. Those types of tempers are extremely contagious. And if we surround ourselves around people who are easily angered, we will find ourselves in lots of unwanted trouble.

The wrong friends can lead us down a dangerous path, but they can only lead us down that path. Our friends cannot force us down a dangerous path. Relationships are intentional, and we are free to cut them off any time we see them heading in a bad direction. It may not be easy to sever ties, but allowing yourself to fall into the trap of a bad relationship is not wise.

I even realize how this even applies to my family. My attitude and actions effect it them as well and if I'm hanging out with the wrong people, guess where those bad habits, actions, etc. show up? Yep, in my home!

Sunday we're going to continue to go "Retro" as we look at how do we develop that inner circle of friends that will spur us on and be there for us and we can be there for them.

Look forward to another "acoustic" Sunday in the worship and learning more about friendships.

In His Grip

Brett (aka Al Jet)


A Prayer for Today

Lord, associating with the wrong kinds of people can get me in a lot of unwanted trouble. It puts me at a greater risk of picking up behavior that is not pleasing in your sight. Help me to filter my relationships with the truth of your word and sever ties with those that are harmful to me. In Jesus' name, Amen.