The Company You Keep

The Bible warns, "Do not be misled: 'Bad company corrupts good character'" (1 Cor 15:33).  In somewhat more colorful terms, "It's hard to soar like an eagle if you're always running around with turkeys."  The point being: The relationships we form in turn tend to form our thoughts, our actions, even our very character.

Have you ever wondered why it is that recidivism is so high after drug rehab or incarceration?  The recovering drug addict or reforming criminal commonly goes back to the family, friends, neighborhood, activities  he was immersed in before any attempts at recovery or reform and there begins running with the turkeys again, leaving behind any notion of soaring like an eagle.

An old saying I picked up in preacher training at Harding somewhere near the dawn of time goes something like this: "That which we see is that which we perceive.  That which we perceive is that which we believe.  That which we believe is that which we become."  Simply put, we are conditioned by that in which we are immersed.

Think about it.  How does one stay dry if he is immersed in water?  How does one become fluent in English if she is immersed in a sub-culture that speaks a foreign language?  How can an inner city boy become a responsible man when immersed in a culture where the men bail on their responsibility to their family?  What are the chances of a politician staying idealistic, honest and ethical if he stays immersed in the political system (can you say term limits)?

Bringing it back to you - yes, I know I'm starting to preach now - how can you expect to become your best when your choice of friends is mediocre at best?  Are you likely to become a top performer at work if you hang around with the low-fruit pickers instead of the ones stretching to reach the top?  What are the chances of making the Dean's List when the students you run with are on the probation list?

Here's the deal: The company you keep, seeks to keep you in their company.  They will not respond well to you rising above them, they will drag you down to their level.  On the other hand, if the company you keep has high standards and is high performing, they will tend to pull you up to their level.  Either way, the company you keep will seek to keep you in their company.

So, if you want to become a top performer hang around top performers instead of top excuse givers.  If you want to excel in your studies, hang around serious students instead of seriously lame students.  If you want to a faithful follower of Jesus Christ, don't immerse yourself in a church full of people who are only fans of Jesus or worse, posers.

And most certainly do not put yourself in an upside down relationship where the unbelievers have more influence on you than you do on them: "Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial?
Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? (2 Cor 6:14-15).

Yes, we need to associate with unbelievers in order to reach out to them and influence them for the kingdom.  But we must be careful that it is we who are influencing them and not they who are influencing us.  We must be focused on being on a mission among the lost so that we don't become missing among them.  Be sure to have adequate saturation time with faithful followers of Jesus Christ so that you can be a faithful example to the unbelievers in which you come into contact.  Jus' Say'n.