“Keep company with the wise and you will become wise. If you make friends with stupid people, you will be ruined” – Prov 13:20 (NIV)

A familiar saying goes, “birds of the same feathers flock together!” Very true. One quickest way to tell about a person is by asking around who he lounges with. The reason is simple- your company influences you positively or negatively!

Just look at what happens to some world class athletes. All at an international level regularly undergo drug test. Between 2004 and 2018, 318 Kenyan athletes were caught by the World Anti-Doping Agency, found to have violated drug laws as they tested positive. These were suspended.

No one can dispute that these athletes were talented but very often influenced by bad company they took on these banned substance drugs. Pretending to have their interest someone convinced them that by taking those performance-enhancing drugs they would do far better. In a tough competitive industry and eager for success and world acclaim some fall astray.

Yet, coincidentally, not all athletes fall to these prays. Many resist and go on to win their medals while clean. They do not listen to bad advice. And this often starts with the company they keep.

Just as some of these great athletes open themselves to bad advice that eventually ruins their careers, Believers in Christ, too, can too easily fall prey to evil company when not watchful. For this reason we are warned to be careful of the company we keep. This is for our own good. “Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good characters” (I Cor 15:33).

Prayer today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, today I pray that I may look for and surround myself with inspiring friendship that leads me closer to you, this I pray in Jesus’s name!