The Company We Keep

"Show me your friends and I'll show you your character."

"You become the company that you keep."

"Bad company corrupts good character."

These are all true and good expressions (or bible verses, in the case of the last one)... in their context.  But when it comes to the company that Christians' keep, their tends to be a fear in the church of "sinners."  This is pretty much the equivalent of a doctor being afraid of disease.

Can a doctor catch a disease?  Yes.  Should a doctor take necessary precautions not to get sick?  Absolutely.  If your around the sick all day, you need to wash your hands.  But should the doctor avoid the sick and only accept healthy patients?  Most certainly not.

We all need friends that have the same beliefs as us.  Jesus had the twelve disciples.  It's hard to stay strong in a world that is constantly tearing you down without a trustworthy support system.  But to say that we should avoid sinners because we might become them is to go against the teachings of Jesus.

Jesus taught us that we are all sinners.  Jesus washed the feet of men that he knew would betray him, deny him, and run in fear.  He associated with tax collectors, prostitutes, adulteresses, and Roman soldiers, some of the worst enemies of a Jew at the time.  When questioned about the company he kept, he replied to the religious leaders, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5:31).

We have a disease, but we have also found a cure.  We have two choices of what to do now.  We can hoard that cure or we can take to the streets and seek out the sick.  Will we follow in our teacher's footsteps?





(This post was highly inspired by several articles and bible passages I have read lately.  One of these is a video journal by the lead singer of one of my favorite bands, Tenth Avenue North.  I would highly recommend checking it out.  So much so, that I am going to link it right here.  Enjoy!)

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