To Become Wise, Spend Time with Wise People - Daily Hope with Rick Warren - September 5, 2016

To Become Wise, Spend Time with Wise People
By Rick Warren

“Spend time with the wise and you will become wise, but the friends of fools will suffer” (Proverbs 13:20 NCV).

Have you ever heard the old phrase, “If you want to soar with the eagles, you can’t run with the turkeys”?

If you’re going to be wise, you’ve got to get some wise people in your life.

You don’t need a lot of friends in life. You don’t need to be popular. You just need a few good friends who build you up, not tear you down, who are wise, not fools. If you hang around with fools, that’s what you become.

We always grow in community. You cannot grow to spiritual maturity by yourself. You could become a monk and move to the top of a mountain and spend your life in silence and reading books. You would grow in knowledge, but you wouldn’t grow in wisdom.

Why? Because wisdom is all about love. Wisdom shows up primarily in relationships. That’s why a lot of people have educational degrees, but their marriages are falling apart. They’re educated, but they’re not wise.

The Bible says in Proverbs 13:20, “Spend time with the wise and you will become wise, but the friends of fools will suffer” (NCV).

If I stand on the edge of a stage, and I’m trying to pull you up while you’re trying to pull me down, which is easier to do? It’s always easier for somebody to pull you down than pull you up. People who pull you down are not your friends. Friends pull you up. Friends encourage you in your pursuit of godly wisdom by offering their own.

Do you have anybody in your life who is giving input for good on a regular basis? You need that kind of encouragement in your life if you want to be a wise person.

Playtoday’s audio teaching from Pastor Rick >>

Talk It Over

• Who are the people who are closest to you?
• How are those people encouraging you in spiritual growth and wisdom? Or, how are they distracting you from learning to live wisely?
• Is it more important to you to have a lot of friends or a few, deep relationships? Why do you think this is so?

For more Daily Hope with Rick Warren, please visit pastorrick.com!

Daily Inspiration for The Purpose Driven Life - Gift Edition

Would you like to help your friends and family live the Purpose Driven Life? One of the best ways to stay focused on God’s plan is to stay in God’s Word, and Pastor Rick Warren has an effective resource that will enable YOU to quickly find Bible verses that are indispensible for living a life of purpose.

We call this resource Daily Inspiration for The Purpose Driven Life. In it, Pastor Rick has taken all the key verses that explain how God created each of us for five purposes and put them into an easy-to-use reference tool that will help anyone study and memorize God’s Word.

When you give a gift to support Daily Hope this month we’ll send you a copy of this beautiful book… and if you choose to make your donation a monthly donation, we’ll send you a special signed copy of Daily Inspiration for The Purpose Driven Life to thank you for joining our Partner in Hope team by giving a scheduled gift each month to support Daily Hope.

Thanks for supporting Daily Hope. Your generosity helps us to teach others about God’s plan for their lives — and, thanks to you, we’re taking that message all across the world.  

This devotional © 2016 by Rick Warren. All rights reserved. Used by permission.

You can also listen to Rick Warren on OnePlace.com.