Proverbial Posting...

So I’m reading through Proverbs this month and making note of a couple of things as I read. One is the “friends” passages. Over and over we see in Proverbs that the people we hang out with and spend time with are critical to who we are.

Additionally, I’ve said many times that we need to be more Biblical in our thinking. I believe it was Charles Spurgeon that said “I want to be so saturated with the Bible that if you were to cut me, I would bleed Scripture.” We need to be more saturated with Scripture so that our thinking is in line with what the Bible teaches.

We live in a culture that saturates us with non-Biblical thinking. Everywhere we turn, the ideas and thought processes that are thrown at us are anti-Biblical. This needs to change. As I’m reading through Proverbs, I’m making notes of all the passages that deal with those we hang out with, our friends and companions, with the goal of putting together a Biblical picture of what our friendship scenario should look like.

I came across this yesterday and it was so clear and well put together, that I had to include it here. It’s from Alex and Brett Harris. Their website, www.therebelution.com is one that I’d heard of but hadn’t really looked at until a couple of days ago. So far, I’m liking what I see. This is a copy/paste from a blog that Alex Harris wrote. I couldn’t say it any better, so here it is in his own words:

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“In Proverbs 13:20 we read, “Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.” The meaning of this verse is clear. To put it plainly, we become like our companions. This is a simple but foundational truth. For us as young people to make our peers our primary source of companionship is to effectively pool our ignorance and foolishness. To walk with the wise is to walk with those who are older, wiser, and godlier than we are.
However, we will not glean the full wisdom of this verse unless we recognize that our companions are not limited to just people. Our companions include, not only our friends and family members, but also the books, magazines, newspapers, and comic books we read, the movies and TV shows we watch, the video games we play, the blogs and websites we surf, and the music, radio shows, and podcasts we listen to.

In today’s information-charged world, many people spend more time with these non-human “companions” than with their peers. According to a study published by Business Week, the average American spends 9.5 hours a day watching TV, going to movies, renting videos, reading magazines, listening to music, and surfing the web. This was in 1998. Since then, Internet use has skyrocketed, DVDs have supplanted VHS, and the iPod has ushered in a new era of isolation from fellow human beings.
The mistake that many young people fall into is this: while we may be careful as to who our human companions may be, we give little to no thought regarding the countless other companions that we constantly allow to influence us. This is why media, of any kind, is such a powerful societal weapon. We do not think of it as a companion.
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If we truly wish to walk with the wise, we must choose the media we read, watch, and listen to, with the same care we apply to the selection of our friends… Because, they are our friends.”
Well said Alex. I couldn’t have put it any better myself.

Rob
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