Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” Come back to your senses as  you ought and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God. I say this to your shame.   – 1 Corinthians 15:33-34

I have noticed the people that I spend time with affect my behavior. There are some people who draw me into a more consecrated life, and there are others who tend to stir worldliness in me. It is important to manage who we allow to have an influence in our lives. Good company inspires us to goodness; bad company inspires us to less than noble purposes.

There are two words translated “good character” in this passage. The first is chrestos and means being gracious or kind. The second is ethos and means the way we act as in habits or mannerisms.

What Paul seems to be saying is that the company we keep will affect our character. We develop character traits, like kindness and being gracious, by practicing them and continually exposing ourselves to those who will practice them. When we choose to spend time with “bad company” we run the risk of developing character traits that are undesirable.

This month we have looked at kindness from a variety of perspectives. We looked at kindness as a fruit of the Spirit, we looked at the kindness of God, we looked at kindness as being driven by compassion, and we looked at those to whom we are instructed to be kind. In all of this the goal has been to make kindness to others a primary focus in our life.

I would encourage you to spend time with the Lord asking him to show you ways of being kind to others. We considered the kindness of God and I hope we have concluded that his kindness is what motivates him to continually draw us to himself. That is why we need to spend time with him in prayer and meditating upon his word. Good company inspires us to goodness and God’s company is just about as good as it gets. 

Prayer: Lord, I want to be kind, but sometimes my self-centeredness gets in the way. Grant me the grace of your kindness being put into my character. Amen.

Principle:  Good company inspires us to goodness; bad company inspires us to less than noble purposes.  

Affirmation: I choose to have fellowship with those who inspire me to goodness and have only casual contact with those who would influence me to less noble purposes.  

Reflection: How have these 31 days of exploring ways to express kindness affected you? Reflect on how being in close relationship with God draws you to kindness, then practice being close to God.


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When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him. The alien living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were aliens in Egypt. I am the Lord your God. – Leviticus 19:33-34

God is reminding Israel of at least two principles in this passage. The first is that all people deserve respect regardless of whether they are of the same race, ethnicity, or national origin as we are. The second is that Israel is to remember how they felt when about the way they were treated when they were aliens in a foreign land.

Many of us have not been resident aliens in another country, but most of us have moved into new neighborhoods, or changed jobs where there was a totally different work environment. Those changes were not easy for us and if there was a kind person who reached out to us during those times it made the transition easier.

Many years ago I moved from California to Missouri. Talk about culture shock! We moved out of an environment where there was such a rat race going on that it was difficult to even get to know the next door neighbors. Then we moved to Missouri. I came home one day and there was a man mowing my lawn. As I walked up he said, “Hello neighbor, I just wanted to welcome you to the neighborhood.” I felt accepted.

As a national people we are still trying to find our way in the treatment of the alien. We are faced with the issue of illegal aliens and the threat of terrorists coming into our country to wreck havoc. Then there is the tragedy of the attitude toward people of African descent whose ancestors were brought to this country as unwilling slaves. For far too long we not only treated them as unwanted aliens we also abused them in the most horrendous ways.

It is time for believers to be examples to the world around us of how we are to treat the strangers among us. We have not been faithful to our calling until we have loved the stranger, the alien, as ourselves. Think about it.

Prayer: Lord, it doesn’t take us long to forget that you reached out to us when we were alone and in need. Help me to love the alien and reach out to them. Amen.

Be Kind To The Strangers Among You

Principle:    The stranger and foreigner living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were strangers and foreigners in Egypt.

Affirmation: The Spirit of Christ in me gives me grace to love strangers and foreigners as myself.

Reflection: Today we are faced with the paradox of the command to love the alien as ourselves and the popular attitude that we should send them home. Think about whether your attitude reflects God's command or the popular opinion.  

We offer you a complimentary book as our way of saying thanks for reading the Daily God Walk daily devotional

 Your Thoughts: We would love to know your thoughts on this post. Just click on the the "comments" button at the top of the pagef you liked this post you may want to get entire month. Get the entire month of the Daily God Walk as our way of saying thanks for following this blog. To get your copy JUST CLICK HERE

LET'S TALK ABOUT IT! I would like to read your comments about today's post. Just above this post is the navigation bar. On the far right is "Let's Talk The God Walk" Just click on that page to make a comment about today's post.

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The Daily God Walk now has a study guide edition.
Readers are finding that having the study guide helps them internalize the messages in the devotions.
It also provides a format for leading small groups
Check it out by clicking here

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