The right crowd?

"Anger is the wind that blows out the lamp of the mind." (Robert Green Ingersoll)

Don’t hang out with angry people; don’t keep company with hotheads. Bad temper is contagious—don’t get infected. (Proverbs 22:24-25 MSG)

If your mom was anything like mine, she cautioned you to find the right group of friends, being wary of hanging out with the 'wrong crowd'. We all knew who the 'wrong crowd' were, didn't we? Depending upon our generation, they could have been the rebellious teens of the 50's who thought it was cool to smoke and dress in slightly more 'provocative' clothing. If we grew up in the 60's, it was likely the hippies who wore multi-colored clothing, sported peace signs, and drove VW buses. There were the anti-war protestors, draft dodgers, potheads, and later the ones who were labeled as 'lose' or 'gang like'. Regardless of the ones our parents labeled as the 'wrong crowd', it was always their intent to keep us safe, making good choices, and living above the harm of a disreputable reputation. God's intent in telling us to not hang out with angry people is much the same - he knows when we associate with 'hotheads', we have a very good chance of 'forming' our behavior in much the same manner.

Temper is contagious, isn't it? The calmer tempers of some can settle a crowd quicker than valium wafting through the ventilation system! The disquieted tempers of others can incite the crowd just as quickly. We have a tendency to be 'responsive' to tempers through a very 'emotional' response. We either settle down, or we 'ramp up' - dependent upon the ones we keep in our view at that moment. Keep the 'wrong' ones in our view long enough and we begin to conform to their way of thinking and reacting. Keep Christ in our view and we will begin to conform to his way of thinking and responding. Notice I didn't say his way of reacting. Jesus always responded - he let his words be few and his testimony be led by the one he kept always in his view - his Heavenly Father. We can take a lesson from his actions, can't we? As 'infectious' as wrong behavior can be, driving our emotions more and more into a bad place, the right behavior of one can keep us from ever following those emotions.

Don't keep company with the 'wrong' crowd. If you have a tendency to always need the juiciest piece of gossip, you likely don't need to take lunch everyday with others who like to spread those rumors. If you have a bent toward using foul language and crass comments, you don't need to hang with the crowd that drops the F-bomb every 30-seconds. The one who desires to live an upright life needs to make better choices about the company they keep. It is so very easy to follow our emotions and get caught up in 'wrong' stuff, reactions, and activities. It is also very easy to reap the consequences of choosing the wrong company to hang with! Choosing the right company may not make sense at first, but when you see what the 'wrong crowd' reaps, you might just want to choose a different crowd! There will always be leaders in this world - be the kind of leader who leads with their eyes on Christ above all else. Just sayin....