Pastor Rick Warren: To Become Wise, Spend Time with Wise People

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—people 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 hermit and move to the top of a mountain and spend your life sitting 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 some 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.

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