Increased Exposure Has Influential Effects

Proverbs 2:12 says this, “Wisdom will save you from evil people; understanding will keep you safe.”

In life there’s a distinct influence on our lives by the associations we keep.

I remember when my daughter was little and she’d stay the night with a friend.  Depending on whose home she stayed in and who’s company she was in, I always noticed a change in her attitude for at least the first few hours.  It was as if she temporarily adopted the condition of her environment.  Sometimes I could even pick up on it by the way she spoke - even sometimes accents were embraced and imitated for a short time.

And the truth really is that we do the same thing.  I see it sometimes in myself.

There’s influence in associations.  The company we keep says a lot about the character we possess.

I think it’s why Proverbs warns us here about obtaining wisdom and understanding that will protect us and shield us from evil, and why the Bible is filled with warnings concerning our involvement with company that corrupts.

1 Corinthians 15:33-34 says this, “… “bad company corrupts good character.  Think carefully about what is right, and stop sinning. For to your shame I say that some of you don’t know God at all.”

Proverbs 13:20-21 says this, “Walk with the wise and become wise; associate with fools and get in trouble. Trouble chases sinners, while blessings reward the righteous.”

Proverbs 16:29 says, “Violent people mislead their companions, leading them down a harmful path.”

Oh and look at this one, “Don’t befriend angry people or associate with hot-tempered people, or you will learn to be like them and endanger your soul.”  Proverbs 22:24-25

Have you ever felt yourself “becoming” something you know you’re not?  Behaving irrationally that’s not the pure intention of your heart?
It’s because we become like the chameleon who’s environment naturally affects it’s expression.

My commentary says this, “How dangerous it is to gaze on a picture or a scene that pollutes the imagination or blunts the moral perceptions, or has a tendency to deaden a sense of our duty to God and man.”

Evil will have influence if we give it access and permission.

Look at the word influence.  One synonym for the word is authority!
The influential effects I am experiencing are there only because I have given them a place of authority in my life.
And today I say - no more.

The question we must ask ourselves in an effort to maintain integrity in the eyes of the Lord is who have I given authority to in my life?

We've got to surround ourselves with like-minded people who are headed into godliness like me and you.  We must beware of those things we’re allowing our eyes to behold.

Increased exposure has influential effects.

Be wise.
Be careful.
Be watchful.

It matters.