Proverbs 1:10 “My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.”
The opening chapter of Proverbs gets straight to the point regarding choices a person has to make. There is no middle ground. For example, with our choices, one will either be a wise person or a fool. One will be a righteous person or a wicked person. One will be diligent or one will be lazy. One is going to listen and learn, or one will be stubborn and stupid.
In getting to the point about making wise decisions that will lead to life and not destruction, Solomon calls on the reader to consider their purpose for their life in verse 7. He calls on the reader to consider carefully the principles a parent teaches and pleas with the young person to put them into practice. He then pleads with the reader to be careful of the people they are around and to resist the pressure to say yes to temptations. A few verses later, he will tell his young reader to avoid certain places as those places are full of temptations that will be hard to resist.
It is as if Solomon tells his son that if you are in the wrong places with the wrong people, you will have wrong practices or bad behavior.
I have summed up the early verses of Proverbs 1 like this:
A person who has the right purpose will have right practices
A person who has the right principles will have right practices
A person who has the right people around them will have right practices
A person who is in the right place will have right practices.
Now the opposite is true
Wrong purpose = wrong practices
Wrong principles = wrong practices
Wrong people = wrong practices
Wrong places = wrong practices
In learning and then teaching others how to get victory over temptations, Proverbs 1 has always been one of the starting places. I had to learn to avoid places where I was prone to fall. I had to learn that some people were just not good for me to be around anymore. Psalm 1:1 told me to take precautions in associating with the wicked. As a reminder, it says, “Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;” Proverbs 12:26 tells me to be careful of whom my friends would be. It states. “The righteous should choose his friends carefully, for the way of the wicked leads them astray.” Proverbs 13:20 revealed how my choices of friends would play out, stating, “He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will be destroyed.”
In resisting temptations and saying no to sinners who entice you it is worth first being careful of who you will be around. Wrong people lead to wrong practices.
Continue Strong and be proactive in who you are with,
And remember to DATE the Word