Good Words for Today: October 24

“Don’t befriend angry people or associate with hot-tempered people, or you will learn to be like them and endanger your soul” (Proverbs 22:24-25).

Sin is contagious.

Bad habits rub off. Greedy people attract greedy people. Haters attract haters. Violent people run in packs.

Paul reminds us that “Bad company corrupts good morals” (1 Corinthians 15:33). We become like the people we hang around. We like what they like, we talk like they talk, and we learn to blow up like they blow up.

We live in strange and dangerous times. One writer said, “Americans hate each other.” Believe it or not, he wasn’t talking about the election. I ran across that quote a few years ago. But it does feel like the national blood pressure has gone up 100 points in the last few months.

We can’t do anything about the vitriol being spewed on TV, radio, in print, and on social media. But we don’t have to add to it.

We need to heed Solomon’s wisdom. There are some people who aren’t good for us right now. You probably have people in your life who want to provoke you into an argument every time they see you.

Avoid them if you can.

You don’t have to answer every email or every text. Think before you hit the Post button. Don’t add to the anger.

I don’t have an answer to the political dilemma except to say that I’ll be glad when this election is over. In the meantime, stay away from angry people, think before you speak, walk away from an argument, and don’t get sucked into an online debate.

And let’s go back to that ancient prayer and make it our own:

“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love. Amen.”

October 24, 2016