Be careful with who you surround yourself with

Proverbs 1:10-19

My son, if sinful men entice you,
do not give in to them.
If they say, “Come along with us;
let’s lie in wait for innocent blood,
let’s ambush some harmless soul;
let’s swallow them alive, like the grave,
and whole, like those who go down to the pit;
we will get all sorts of valuable things
and fill our houses with plunder;
cast lots with us;
we will all share the loot”—
my son, do not go along with them,
do not set foot on their paths;
for their feet rush into evil,
they are swift to shed blood.
How useless to spread a net
where every bird can see it!
These men lie in wait for their own blood;
they ambush only themselves!
Such are the paths of all who go after ill-gotten gain;
it takes away the life of those who get it.

I am not sure about you, but I know I don’t have any friends that try to entice me to ambush some poor innocent soul. I would like to think that as Christians, even if we have friends who would try to entice us, we would know better than to listen to them.  Knowing this, I am quick to dismis this set of verses. However better judgement tells me otherwise. We may not easily enticed by our friends to go ambush some innocent, so how can these verses relate to us? How about our friends who invited us to do things that aren’t necessary the Christian, or things that may damage our relationship with Christ. Friends that invite us to go to that movie that is easily controversial, that is full of things that is not Christ pleasing (Any rated R ‘comedy’ movie). How about our friends that have filthy mouths? Every where you go their is constant filth coming out of their mouth, a mouth full of sin. Their actions are full of sin as well. The ones that make no attempt to please God. Can’t these friends be the same as the men in this passage from Proverbs?

for their feet rush into evil,
they are swift to shed blood.

These men lie in wait for their own blood;
they ambush only themselves!
Such are the paths of all who go after ill-gotten gain;
it takes away the life of those who get it.

 

The description fits! They are quick to rush into sin. They find great joy and satisfaction in their sin, even brag about it. Are they swift to shed blood? Of course! Christ’s blood!

They lie in wait for their own blood; they ambush only themselves! Of course! These are the people that go out seeking satisfaction to themselves. But in reality, all they end up doing is digging a bigger hole for their satisfaction. It is like trying to fill a hole with acid. Sure, you may be able to fill it, but once you do fill it, the acid is going to burn on the inside causing pain, and it is going to burn the hole bigger. So they are only ambushing themselves when they invite all this sin into their lives.

Such are the paths of all who go after ill-gotten gain; it takes away the life of those who get it. To sum it all up, be careful in the activities you are participating in. Be careful for the words that come out of your mouth. Be careful for the thoughts that lie within your head. They may give you some sort of satisfaction in the time. “we will get all sorts of valuable things and fill our houses with plunder” but in the end it is taking away your life. It’s separating you from Christ.

Unknown quote origin

“What you put into it, is what you get out of it.”

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