Description
Cultivating Wise Friendships: A Lesson from Proverbs
In this episode, we explore Proverbs 22:24-25, highlighting the im… (visit YouTube for more)
Transcript
There’s more wisdom for us to meditate on today from the book of Proverbs. Proverbs 22, verses 24 to 25. Make no friendship with a man given to anger, nor go with a wrathful man, lest you learn his ways and entangle yourself in a snare.
The writer of Proverbs knows that our friendships influence us. If you want to know what you are going to become like, if you want to know how your character is going to be formed, how your personality will be shaped, look at the people around you.
Who are you spending your time with? Are they peaceful people? Are they faithful and devoted? Or are they prone to outbursts? Are they prone to act in an irritated manner?
Proverbs is quite hard down the line on this one. Don’t be friends, it says, with people who are angry, who are wrathful, who are likely to explode. And there are two reasons why we shouldn’t go this way. One is that we will become like them, we will adopt their attitudes and behaviours. And the other is that we’re going to be trapped, we’re going to be caught out. This anger, this explosion is going to hit us. Or worse, we ourselves will explode and injure others.
This is really practical advice, isn’t it? What do we do about it? Look at our friendships. Are our friends angry? Maybe it’s time to see less of those people. Unless that is, God is calling you to be the one that sows peace into their lives. As always, we need the guidance of the Holy Spirit with this.
Lord God, please help us to be honest about our friendships. To allow you to participate in those friendships so that we are being salt and light to our friends, whether Christian or not yet Christian. We know, God, that you wish to shape us into the character of Christ. Thank you for your care and concern for us and that you are raising us as a loving father does. Amen.
