“He who walks with the wise grows wise, a companion of fools suffers harm”
Proverbs 13:20

Most of us are familiar with the saying “guilt by association”.
Although it may be a cliché, there is some truth to it.

We are influenced by who we hang around.
We have a circle of people around us and who they are and what they stand for can say a lot about us.

If most of your friends are negative, you probably will be also.
I’ve had people that I was friends with when I was younger. As time went on we grew further and further apart.
Although this sounds bad, it wasn’t.
The more I thought about it the more I realized that neither of us was improving the life of the other.

That’s what I think friendship is all about—improving the life of someone else.

You can’t be in a positive, productive relationship with someone who is selfish, mean, condescending or rude. As a matter of fact, if you do hang around people like that, I guarantee that you’ll become just like them.

It doesn’t matter how good your intentions are.
If your friends don’t take on some of your characteristics, you’ll take on theirs.

Make sure your friends are like-minded people.
Surround yourself with people that will strengthen you and build you up.
Think deeply about how you affect those who are around you.

Birds of feather flock together.

Father, I pray that we consider the seriousness of the company that we keep. Send us friends that we can count on and let us also be considered worthy enough for someone to want to be around us. We understand that life is fragile and temporary. We are only here for a short time and we must take every moment as a time to make an impact on this world. Thank You for your example of friendship to us.
In Jesus name, amen.