Bad Company Corrupts Good Character
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”’ (1 Corinthians 15:33); ‘Flee from <sexual> immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins <sexually>, sins against their own body.’ (1 Corinthians 6:18)
Paul provides in his first epistle to the church in Corinth guidelines for the Christian to follow, with verses interspersed holding great nuggets of Godly advice and direction. One bit of advice Paul gives is in 1 Corinthians 15:33, as he quotes a Greek playwright and poet from ~300 BC, Menander. Even in Menander’s time, he saw those who were considered ‘good’ were influenced by the people, places, and environments they were surrounded by.
There are many influences today that I have from Pittsburgh and the friends I had growing up that I still hold onto; ‘snitches get stitches and wind up in ditches’, for example. Not all influences are bad, as growing up in Pittsburgh with parents and neighbors who lived through the Depression and World War II, or worked in steel mills or other industries taught me to have a good work ethic, not to give up, to do good work so you could take pride in what you did and be honorable for whatever you stand for.
However, as with the uprise in ‘woke’ policies that okay cheating in school, tardiness, ‘anti-work’, and entitlements; we see that corruption Menander and Paul are warning against. A person, especially one who is not in Christ, can be led astray by peer pressure or mob mentality. Many today are led astray by what they hear in sound bites the media repeats, without research or thought about what they hear or what they see.
For example, we hear the soundbites that ‘abortion is about the freedom for women’s rights of choice regarding their bodies’. The sound bite sounds very appealing, but the reality is the ‘choice’ is (in most cases) a result of irresponsibility and immorality. It is also a failure to consider the right of unborn child to live and experience life. This ‘choice’ comes from who a woman will hang out with and listen to, how she was brought up and who influenced her most. A secular influence will lead a woman to ‘choices’, while a Biblical influence will lead a woman to ‘life’.
While Paul directly speaks to sexual immorality in 1 Corinthians 6:18, we can remove the word ‘sexual’ from the passage and it remains true. While immoral acts of sex are sins against the physical body, any immoral acts are sins against moral and Spiritual body. If a child is allowed to be immoral and cheat in school or skip classes, it ends up not helping them but hurting them. How can cheating help a student learn what they should know? Cheating goes along with ‘woke’ movement; it is a lie (‘I answered the question but I don’t know what I was supposed to learn’) rather than the truth (‘I don’t know what I was supposed to learn, so I need to learn it to know it’). Bad influences often bring about a broken moral compass that points away from God and Righteousness.
How can we combat moral corruption? First, we must hold to God’s precepts and practice His rules of engagement. Be Righteous and follow God’s moral compass. Read and study Scriptures, pray for the Holy Spirit to lead you and provide discernment, and hang out with Christian friends (which can be made by attending Life Groups!). Be examples to your children and try to teach your grandchildren the necessity and importance of avoiding lies of the ‘woke’, and be immersed in the Truth of the ‘based’, who are grounded in Jesus and His Gospel message.
