May 23
The Elevator Riddle
Pr 13:20 He that
walketh with wise men shall be wise:
but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.
The view from his 30th floor
apartment was wonderful. The elevator would quickly take him down every morning
so he could walk a couple blocks to his office building. But when he came home the
elevator would only take him to the 20th floor. Then he had to take
the stairs for the last ten floors. Why?
This old
riddle is so well known you have already guessed the answer. But I included it
because it fits so well with our devotional thought for today, which is to be
careful who our friends are.
A wonderful book entitled “God’s Little
instruction Book” by Honor Publications contains Bible verses that have been
reworded in thoughtful and often humorous ways. The proverb that we are
considering today is reworded the following way.
“Your companions are like the buttons on an
elevator. They will either take you up or down.”
That should also be a great clue to the riddle
if you haven’t already figured it out. The guy walked up the stair for the last
ten stories because he was too short to reach the number thirty and could only
reach as high as #20 on the elevator buttons. I know….Groan!!
An excellent bad example of having wrong
friends is Lot. He went to live in a wicked city. He married a woman from
Sodom. His daughters married men from Sodom. The last we hear of him he is
homeless, living in a cave with two daughters who had adopted the morals of
Sodom and as a result were guilty of incest with their drunken father.
The proverbs are wonderful examples of wisdom
we should learn as we mature and grow wiser. However age has little to do with
wisdom. There are old fools just as there are young ones. The lesson for us
today is simple to understand, but often ignored, especially by the immature,
of whatever age.
I once heard an interesting expression that
said we are only changed by the people we meet and the books we read. If there
is any truth to that we should choose both books and friends carefully.
In the end of the 14th chapter in Genesis we see
an example of not making friends with bad people. There we read of several
kings joining in battle. The result was that Sodom was sacked. The winners took
everything of value from Sodom, including the people, which included Lot. When
Abraham got word that his nephew had been taken, he armed his servants and
rescued Lot and all the people and their possessions. The king of Sodom showed
up and thanked Abraham. That old pervert king told Abraham to keep the stuff
just return the people. Abraham wanted
nothing to do with the king of Sodom and told him he would not take a thread or
a shoelace. He had just wanted to rescue his nephew Lot.
The book of Proverbs lists some people
that we should not be friends with.
Pr 22:24 Make no
friendship with an angry man;
and with a furious man thou shalt not go:
Shouldn’t we make friends with people who need Christ so
we can help them with their anger issues? No! Would you go to those who have an
infectious disease so your health could make them well? No, because you would
eventually catch their illness. So it is with an angry man. Which is more
natural for us, to become angry or to be meek and forgiving? Verse 25 explains
why we should not be friends with an angry man.
Pr 22:25 Lest thou learn his ways,
and get a snare to thy
soul.
We are also told to stay away from foolish
people.
Pr 14:7 Go from the presence of a foolish man,
when thou perceivest not in him the lips of knowledge.
Foolish people say foolish things, desire
foolish goals, make foolish decisions, and have foolish friends. Don’t be one
of them!
A black
soldier I was stationed with said it best. “Now
there is three kinds of people in this world. There is the man who knows and
knows he knows. That man is wise and you should honor him. Then there is the
man who do not know and he knows he do not know. That man is unlearned and you
should pity him. Then there is the man who do not know but he thinks he knows.
That man is a fool and you should flee from him.”
The thought in our devotional is obvious and
needs little explanation. But it is a good reminder. What kind of people do we
spend our time with? If they are complainers, whiners, angry, dishonest, given
to bad language, smutty conversation, and strong drink do not expect your
wholesome life will transform them.
Rather you will be conformed to their way of thinking, speaking and
acting. Now you may not become as bad as they are but you will not stay as
godly as you once were. They will not catch your Godliness. You will catch
their ungodliness.
Our meditation for today is to consider the kind
of people we choose to associate with. What draws us to be friends with them?
And while we reflect on that we should keep a verse from Romans in our mind as
well.
Ro 12:2 And be not
conformed to this world:
but be ye
transformed by the renewing of your mind,
that ye may prove
what is that good,
and acceptable, and perfect, will
of God.
No comments:
Post a Comment