There’s a verse I was reading recently in the book of Proverbs that stuck with me. Proverbs 13:20: "He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm." (NIV).
It’s so simple, so straightforward, and so true. But what is wisdom you may be asking. Well it’s not intelligence. That’s quite different. Some of the most intelligent people I met at university were the biggest fools when it came to living their own lives. Then I’ve known other people who weren’t what you’d call "an intellectual", but they had wisdom to spare. And it’s not knowledge either, though knowledge does play a part in being wise. The computer I’m writing this on has more knowledge (i.e. information) stored in its memory banks and available on the Internet than my brain could ever hold. But it’s not wise. It’s just a machine. It can’t really think for itself. No, wisdom is something else. Wisdom is a down to earth, practical knowledge of about how to live and practical skill for living life.
In that light, the verse in Proverbs is true for everyone reading this, whoever you are. And it’s not a difficult concept to grasp. It’s almost self-explanatory. If you spend your time with wise people, their wisdom will rub off on you. If you spend time with fools, their foolishness will rub off on you and you are likely to suffer as a result.
In Bible times, the proverb mainly concerned actually spending time with people. And that’s the most important aspect of this proverb, but if we take the principle this proverb lays down and update it for other time spent with people, it also applies to the authors of the books we read, the makers of the films and television programmes we watch, the singers in the music we listen to, the columnists in the newspapers and magazines we read, and so on. And when we read it in that light, how much more challenging is it about how we spend (or should that be waste!) our time? In our daily life, if we even considered for a minute the question "Will this leave me a wiser person?" how many of us would make different choices about what we read, watch and listen to? It reminds me of Paul’s advice in Philippians 4:8:
"Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things."
Yet having said that, clearly the main thing this verse teaches is about who we spend our time with. The fact is that those you spend your time with not only reveals a lot about you, it affects you much more than you might want or realise. For example if you spend all of your week, except one hour on a Sunday, basically in the company of people who don’t know Jesus Christ and don’t worship our God, or worse who hate and ridicule him and don’t mind telling you so, you will find yourself much more open to being influenced to think the world’s way, to take a secular view of life, to take a materialistic view of life, and to be subtly encouraged to forget God during the week and get on with your own life. You may even find yourself, like Peter, denying Christ and doing things you know are wrong, simply to avoid being ridiculed or disliked yourself. That’s surely one aspect of "suffering harm" as a companion of fools?
Now clearly I’m not advocating the setting up of monasteries, and retreating from the world physically. But on the other hand, if you spend time with your fellow believers not just on a Sunday morning, but maybe on a Sunday night too, on a Wednesday night at our "Unlock" Bible study meeting, maybe at an organisation like the Regnal or Guild during the week, then you keep just that little bit more in touch not just with each other, but as God’s people, with God too.
There is a whole strand of teaching throughout the Bible that makes it very clear that although we are to live in the world, be good neighbours, live peaceably with everyone, get to know people outside the church, be good colleagues of those we work with and so on, we are not "of the world," or be "friends" with the world, and should not live as if we are. Jesus says to his disciples "You do not belong to the world." (John 15:19). In Romans 12:2 Paul says "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind."
Although we will have friends and acquaintances outside the church, we should be careful of how much influence they have over us. And we should try wherever possible to make sure our best and most trusted friends should be in the church. They should be the ones we spend much time with and learn from. Our closest companions should be those who fear the Lord, who hold him in awe and wonder, who love him, who trust in him and will help us in our walk as we seek to do so too. After all, if we are to walk with the wise, we must walk with those who fear the Lord, for Proverbs teaches that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." (Proverbs 9:10).
The most important application of this verse from Proverbs that I can think of is the way it should encourage us to spend more time with Jesus in our own private times of prayer, Bible study and worship. After all, 1 Corinthians 1:24, Paul says that Christ is "the wisdom of God." It follows then that he or she that walks with Christ will grow wise. We will become wise in the things that matter most: in the knowledge of what God is like as he reveals himself through Christ and his written Word, the Bible, and in how we can live a life that will glorify him and enable us to enjoy him forever.
So let him be your teacher as you walk through life. There is no greater teacher. And his lessons are the easiest to remember, even though the practical work can be hard at times. His school is always open to take new students and no one who joins his classes will ever be expelled or sent home. You only need one textbook too. Best of all, once you sign up for his classes you can’t fail the exam at the end of term. You see, the teacher has already corrected all his pupils mistakes and answered all their examination questions correctly, well before the exam is marked. He did it a long time ago for them at a place called Calvary.
And how do you get into this remarkable teacher’s class? You just knock and the door will be opened to you. Ask him, and he’ll let you in. Put your trust in him, and you’ll never regret it. It will be the wisest thing you’ve ever done.
