Have you ever met someone you wish you had never met? Has your spouse met someone you wish they had never met? Have your children met someone you wish they had never met? Looking back, one of the things that you’ll discover is that some of your greatest regrets were attached to the people you associated with. It may have been your ex-spouse or business partner. Maybe it was a friend or even a brief encounter, but we can all look back and almost wish we had never met. 

Since the beginning of time God commanded that the people of Israel not give their daughters in marriage to the people around them or to take their daughters for their sons. And God explained why, because over time that relationship would cause their children to turn their hearts away from God. To many today this command may sound xenophobic or judgmental but that would be a misconception. Because this command had nothing to do with the other person’s ethnicity it was all about using sound judgment. Judging or being judgmental is the opinion a person formulates about another. Whereas, sound Judgment is the opinion a person formulates about themself. Perhaps no one has explained this concept better than King Solomon when he wrote:

Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm. 

– Proverbs 13:20 NIV

In the Bible a wise person is the one who knows what’s right and does what’s right and a fool is a person who doesn’t care what’s right. Solomon says that if you walk with wise people you’ll become a wise person. In other words that wisdom is contagious. But if you choose to hang with fools you won’t become a fool but you will suffer harm. Again, it’s not about judging others it’s about determining what is the wise choice for me. If the people I choose to hang with don’t care about their health, why would they care about mine? If they don’t care about their finances why should they care about mine and if they don’t have or care about their faith why would they care about mine? 

For good or bad the people you choose to walk through life with will impact the quality and direction of your life.  You should never judge others but you should definitely use sound judgment when choosing who to walk through life with.