Daily Bible Study: Proverbs 1:10-19

My son, if sinners entice you,
Do not consent. 
If they say, “Come with us,
Let us lie in wait to shed blood;
Let us lurk secretly for the innocent without cause;
Let us swallow them alive like Sheol,
And whole, like those who go down to the Pit;
We shall find all kinds of precious possessions,
We shall fill our houses with spoil;
Cast in your lot among us,
Let us all have one purse”—
My son, do not walk in the way with them,
Keep your foot from their path;
For their feet run to evil,
And they make haste to shed blood.
Surely, in vain the net is spread
In the sight of any bird;
But they lie in wait for their own blood,
They lurk secretly for their own lives.
So are the ways of everyone who is greedy for gain;
It takes away the life of its owners.

Proverbs 1:10-19 (NKJV).

Associations matter. This is "common sense", we have old idioms about "rotten apples" and how far "apples fall from the tree". And yet how we behave often denies this truth, as if who we are is not influenced by who we spend time with, and what we spend time doing with those people.

On the way to a youth group in college, a passenger in my car commented during a conversation that he wouldn't want to get "caught with the wrong crowd." It struck me as terribly ignorant because Jesus was constantly "caught with the wrong crowd", and it became a significant point of consternation between he and the religious elites of his day.

So how do we reconcile that who we spend time with affects us, and yet not isolate ourselves completely when people sin and make mistakes?

Described in this passage is a recommendation to avoid joining in with "sinners" in their sin, and that's the key, that's the subtlety you need to grasp.

Jesus spent time with sinners, but did not sin. So likewise does Solomon instruct us not to partake in sinful activities, in this case regarding greed. While the thieves are, at the surface level, robbing from someone else, what they're really stealing from is themselves, their soul. They seek gains which are not theirs, to feed a hunger which only God can satisfy, and so their greed will consume them.

When our hearts belong to God, when we are obedient to God's commands, we will run afoul of those around us whose loyalties are to lesser beings, as the gods of this world are flushed with envy and hatred for God's power and position in existence. We are to remain loyal to God, to follow the path God has set before us, and not to be distracted by the goals of the mortals among us and their suicidal idolatry.

Does this mean you'll be walking your path "alone"? Well, you may not have many other people on that path, but when you are reconciled to God, you are never truly alone at all. God is not an impersonal being, a definition in a book, but a living mind, a supreme sentience, and cares for the fates of those in his flock.

You do not need to break association with sinners just because they've sinned or will sin, otherwise Jesus would not have ever come to bear witness to us of the salvation that would be afforded by his blood. You need to refuse to partake in their sin, to instead walk in righteousness, and trust God to provide you the strength to resist such temptations.