THINK TOGETHER.
Have you ever heard this modern proverb: “Birds of a feather flock together”?
READ TOGETHER
Proverbs 17:4. An evildoer listens to wicked lips, and a liar gives ear to a mischievous tongue.
Who we listen to, who we spend time with, who we hang out with says a lot about who we are. Solomon says that an evildoer listens to the wicked. Liars listen to liars. Mean people like being mean together. Cheaters help each other cheat.
Solomon is actually saying something quite profound. He’s not just talking about peer pressure – the idea that being around bad people will turn us into bad people. Yes, that is very true. But he’s saying that who we choose to hang around reveals what is already inside of us. If we like to be around the mean kids, or the liars, or the cheaters, it is not that we were good and are being turned bad. It’s that we were already bad.
Here’s the truth – everyone is born bad.
It’s easy for us to listen to wicked lips because we are all born to be evildoers. It’s easy for us to get drawn into being mean, or gossipy, or critical, because we are all naturally sinful that way. We love mischievous people because we are mischievous ourselves.
This is why just changing who we hang around or changing our environment is never enough. God has to change us from the inside out, not just the outside in. He has to give us a new heart that will hate evil, and wickedness, and lies, and mischief. That’s exactly what happens when we trust in Jesus. He joins his heart to ours so that we can begin to change from the inside. Then (and only then) will we be able to stop listening to the Devil’s sinful lies and deceptions.
Because of Jesus we can hate the sin that is naturally inside of us.
With Jesus we can be more careful about who we spend time with, and listen to.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Do you have any friends that you really like, but you know that they are doing wrong things? What does this tell you about yourself? What steps do you need to take to not be influenced by them and to have a positive influence on them?
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, you have given me your heart when I trusted in you. Let your heart move me away from lies and mischief and toward truth and love. Amen.
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