Who Goes & What Do You Take with You?
We could rephrase the question in a statement as follows:
wisely choosing what you take and who goes with you in life is key to finding fulfillment.
Happiness therefore closely depends on whom we associate with and to whom or what we choose to listen.
But what kind of people with whom do we really need to associate?
Psalm 1 lays out three different types of people we meet in life based on verse 1: wicked, sinners, scoffers (mockers in other versions). The fourth kind of people we also meet are the righteous, which we read about in verse 6. Being righteous is our ultimate goal, which we cannot accomplish on our own. Let us then focus more on the first three groups because that is where all of us fall.
What Psalm 1 is not saying: “don’t make friends out of people who are wicked, sinners or scoffers.” Even though “bad company ruins good morals (1 Corinthians 15: 33),” Christians are called to have friends not based on whether they belong to the 3 groups above or not. We are called to love everyone.
What Psalm 1 is saying: “do not to walk in the counsel of the wicked; not to stand in the way of sinners; and not to sit in the seat of scoffers (or mockers).” In other words, “do not let people influence your lifestyle.”
So, the point is not about avoiding people because we think they are bad. It is, however, about choosing not to listen to the counsel of the wicked, embrace the way of sinners or associate with the mockers. Being wicked has to do with some kind of hostility against God or anything that is related to God. As of sinners, the term has to do with humankind. Being a sinner is then a description of who you, I and everyone else are. It is said that “all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory” (Romans 3: 23).
Based on Romans (as well as the rest of the New Testament), the terms “wicked and mockers” are grouped under “sinners.” Jesus came to dwell among us. The people who saw Him also saw His glory, and the glory of the Son of God who had come from God the Father (John 1: 14). Scripture goes on to say that He was full of grace and truth.
So, if Jesus came to live for thirty years with sinners, what does that imply to the way we should also live? Is it not that we also have to live with everyone else? Jesus ate, drank and visited with lots of people. However, He spent much of His time with only twelve people. There were things He never told everyone else, except His twelve best friends.
That is the same with you and I. We may claim to have over 200 friends. But, in reality, they say that we can only have on the average between 130 to 150 friends. Only less than 10 people, however, can truly be our best friends. These are the people you and I interact with on a more regular basis and with more closeness.
How do we know someone is a true friend?
True friends help us be the best of who we should be. As believers, good friends are the ones who help us grow as true and faithful disciple of Jesus Christ. In the process they help you and I answer the following questions:
- Where do you put your trust?
- What is the source of your understanding?
- Do you acknowledge God as King and Lord in all your ways?
- Do you fear God?
- Do you hate evil?
Those are the people to talk and listen to as we live out our lives. What we hear from them shapes us into who God wants us to be. It is their counsel, advise and wisdom, grounded in Scripture, we take with us as we journey in life!
Read my previous posts in this series below (adapted from the sermons delivered at the United Methodist church in Harris and Lake Park):
Watching the Signs.
Life’s Journey.
You can also listen to the audio sermons:
