One day a farmer grabbed his shot gun to shoot at a flock of pesky crows. Unfortunately, he didn’t see his sociable parrot that had joined the crows. After firing a few shots, he walked over to the fallen birds and was surprised to find his parrot badly ruffled with a broken wing. When the farmer’s children saw the injured bird, they asked, “Dad, what happened?” The farmer simply replied, “Bad Company.”
As the saying goes, when you sleep with the dogs you will get the fleas. We have been looking at the path of a backslider form the episode of Peter denying Jesus. We have talked about pride, that attitude of self-sufficiency that would say others may desert you but not I. Then we looked at prayerlessness, Peter slept when he was supposed to be in prayer no wonder he reacted in the flesh by cutting off someone’s ear. Yesterday we looked at cowardice, Peter the one who thought he was brave was now following Jesus from a distance.
Mark 14:54
54 Peter had followed Him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest; and he was sitting with the officers [guards and servants] and warming himself at the fire.
Not only was Peter following Jesus from a distance, he was now sitting down with the guards and servants warming himself by the fire.
1 Corinthians 15:33 (AMP)
33 Do not be deceived: [a]“Bad company corrupts good morals.”
When you start following Jesus from a distance, you will soon not feel too comfortable hanging out with the Jesus crown and instead like Peter you will feel more comfortable hanging out with the crowd opposed to Jesus and what he stands for. Now I am not advocating that as believers we completely stay away from those who do not believe. No that is not what I am saying, we are to go out into the word and make disciples. The issue is when you feel more comfortable hanging out with those who do not believe allowing them to influence you.
Who do you hang out with? Who are the people you have allowed to influence your life?
Interesting that Peter denied Jesus when he was in the company of those opposed to Jesus and not vice versa. Who you choose to surround yourself with has a great impact on your life. As a believer if the people you chose to surround yourself with are mostly none believers then you are headed down the path of denying Jesus.
