Devotion for Saturday, October 15, 2011
Proverbs 13:20
He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
This is a principle I wish every student would be able to believe and understand at the earliest age possible. It’s so important.
There is a lie and the lie goes like this: The people I hang out with and spend time with won’t influence me. I know they are headed down a path I shouldn’t be on, but they won’t influence me that way. We can be close and I’ll make them better.
Similarly it can goes like this: I know that girl who likes me isn’t a Christain, but she’s so pretty and popular. This might be my only shot at dating someone that pretty, and besides maybe I can get her to come to church.
Now I’m not saying that if someone is not a christian that they are automatically a “fool.”
Nor am I saying that you shouldn’t be friendly with people who do wrong things, cause we all do things that are wrong.
What I am saying is this… Your close friends will help determine the quality and direction of your life.
This principle can work for you or against you.
So today, here are some questions for you:
Who do you need to “walk” with in your life? Who are some wise people that you need to be around?
Who are you close to that is foolish? Who do you need to spend less time with? Don’t be a jerk, but make wise choices about who you spend your time with.
Study the Scriptures with Ben Jennings 
I think this passage is saying that if you walk with a wise person like god or you mom or someone then you are indeed wise yourself because you won’t get in any trouble, but if you are a champion of fools then you suffer. I need to walk with the people in my life that will guide me to the right track and help me do the right thing like when you hang out with the right people they rub off on you so I need to walk with my mom my friends well some of my friends and my mom and Best of all walk with god cuz he will lead you to the path of righteousness. The foolish people in my life are mostly sOme of my like best friends and my friends like my friend not gonna say any names but she smokes alot and does weed and she comes to school high and she curses alot and she always gets arrested so I need to get away from that mess.
And oh I forgot to mention that I loved today’s passage it was amazing and it really made you think well it made me think.so keep up the good work pastor ben!!! 🙂
Thanks Mafalda! You rock girl…I loved your applications in this verse…
Well thank you and your welcome!! 🙂
I second what Pastor Ben said, Mafalda you definitely put a great application on this passage….really nice job!
Ok. Today’s passage was about seeing who u should walk with to help with ur walk or life with god. My personal opinion I don’t wanna be around people who cus all the time! I just think it a sin tht shouldn’t be in my life, alot of kids at my school cus. So it’s kinda pretty hard to deal with tht situation. So,… I would wanna walk with people who encourage me! Like pastor ben, sandi, Tim, Laura, megan, and John, and deff many more. But those kinda people help me get through things and even people fro the youth group! Many of u guys even on here help me with everyday situations! 🙂 thts what I got out of today’s message!!!!! 😀 love u guys and c u tmrw!!!!! 🙂
Good stuff Tristian!
Thanks!!!! 🙂
Tristian, what’s true (and cool) about this day and time, is that we can “walk with you” even after you move, even though its not “side by side”, by keeping in touch online and devotions, etc. Laura and I are very proud of you and the whole youth group will miss you (when the time comes)..
at first i didn’t get this but now i do!! we need 2 not hang around people doing the wrong thing because then we can get stuck in their mess and we can become like them.the person i shouldn’t be hanging around is one of my friends who doesn’t care about school work and basically doesn’t care about anything.i haven’t seen her 4 a while but i think its best 2 stay away from her.i care about school!! i want 2 get a good education!! like tristian said,the people who encourage me are like pastor ben,tim,sandi,laura,john,and megan but theres plenty more!! we all need 2 go down the right road and follow the people who encourage u and God!! have a great saturday everyone!! 🙂 love u guys!! 🙂 praying 4 u all!! see u guys tmrw!! 🙂 <333
What i got from this is that many people think something like”They are a terrible influence, but oh well..who says i’m influenced by them?” But the fact is you ARE influenced by them and then they end up leading you down the wrong path. It’s not wrong to show kindness to people who are going down the wrong path, but we need to not join them. We should surround ourselves with people who encourage us to do right. If we are surrounded by people doing the wrong things we will influenced by the wrong crowd. So, to answer your question I should be “walking” with people who will encourage me to do right. Miss laura really encourages me and so does melanie 🙂 They’re just so real and I can see that their relationships with God are no joke. I want to be like that! 🙂
Praying for you grace..
That was a great lesson pastor ben!u always hv the best messages!u encourage me everyday and really care about my realationship with god!ur the best! !
Thanks Allie! You made my day!
ur so very welcome!! 🙂
What i learned from this passage is that you dont want to be the foolish who does wrong and the person no one likes, you want to be the person that is wise and the on who does right, follows god, and has lots of friends. Doing these things will not only make you a good christian but it will but lead you to be christ like.
Andrew, you are right…a person who is wise will literally attract other people, because who wants to get bad advice? Where does the wisdom come from? Well, you have been looking in the right place…seek the Lord, and ask for Him to guide your path, and He will, (and others will follow)!
Sometimes i always think “man, i really shouldnt be associated with them” or “maybe i made the wrong choice in being so close to them.” i’ve made stupid choices as to who my bestfriends have been & ive lost a lot due to that. But i know i need to be walking with my close friends at church, & not so much my close friends at school. Sure, my friends at school arent bad people, but they’re not christians & and there is an apparent difference between myself & my friend. That influences my life a lot.. It hurts sometimes because i love my friends but i know they are missing a huge part of what their lives could be- a relationship with God! Im so thankful for you guys because your my closest friends & understand every part of my life, not just half of it. Im walking with God, & you guys 🙂
I’ve let other people influence the way that I’ve acted a couple times before. When I was in 8th grade, I wanted to gain approval of my peers and in return, their actions reflected upon mine. Also I let a guy influence the way I acted as well. My parents saw that his bad actions were influencing my behavior and changing the way I was, but I didn’t believe them, and learned the hard way in the end that they were right all along. Whether we want to believe it or not, our friends, and peers have an influence on us, and it can either be a positive or a negative influence. We need to be careful when it comes to this, because it can be so dangerous. We need to surround ourselves with people in our lives who are a good influence on us, but at the same time, be a good influence to others around us, especially those who aren’t good influences. I’ve been really good friends with two girls for three years now. When we first became friends we had a lot in common and we hung out all the time because of it. Well the two of them became close and starting doing things that I was against, and I would have to make excuses all the time for not hanging out because I didn’t want to get caught up in bad situations. They called me the goody good and always said they were going to get me to do things one day, but because I didn’t let myself get caught up in sticky situations, and let their bad influences influence me, I’ve stayed out of trouble. We’re still all good friends, and they now tell me I’m a positive influence in their lives! That’s the coolest thing ever to me! But the important thing about this is to not let our friends influence us in a negative way, but at the same time be a positive influence to them! As Christians we need to be lights to others in this dark world. It’s up to us to be godly examples of Christ and to show them what He’s all done for them. Without being rude and shoving others away because they’re “bad”, we need to deal with it in a positive safe way.
I need to walk with godly influences in my life. I need to grow every single day, and be encouraged by godly people so I can do the same for others. I always look up to Megan, Pastor Ben, Laura, John, Sandi and Tim, because they all are such godly people and great influences! I aspire to have such a good testimony when i’m older. I really look up to them all, and I’m so blessed to have them each in my life. I’m friends with a lot of foolish people because I try and be friendly to just about everyone, but I try to only put myself in situations where I know I won’t be influence negatively.
This is such a powerful subject and something we all need to get! Great devotion today! See you all tomorrow morning 🙂
I’ve definitely made some bad decisions when it comes to letting others influence me in a wrong way. Sometimes because I’d want to gain the approval of the people around me, I’d just act the way they did so they’d like me more. I can definitely say that was not very smart! I think I’m getting better at it though, I try to surround myself with good and Godly people. Just like Melanie said, I look up to Pastor Ben, Megan, Laura, John, Sandi, Tim, Jessica, & Corey. I love having such godly influences in my life! And I think going to youth group, and surrounding myself with godly teens has helped me in a HUGE way!
I had a great time with everyone at Mike Greenwells, see you guys tomorrow! 😀
“your direction, not your intentions determine your destination”. This is so true people you hang out with and spend time with play a huge role in your life, and if your not careful they can. It is so important to be aware of who you are spending time with because they can hurt you or help you.
Nice tie-in from a prior lesson, Ryan! That is the summary in a nutshell, your associations play a key role in your direction in life, and therefore your destination…and if you’re not driving the “prettiest go-kart” you may even get there faster! 😉
“Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.” Proverbs 22:24, 25
Nice follow up and eternally true!, Now go to bed Melanie!