In college, I took a couple of astronomy courses and I learned about how planets, stars, and moons interact with each other. Something that stood out to me was the importance of gravity. Gravity is the force by which a planet or other body draws objects toward its center. It is what makes things fall, what holds the planets/moons in orbit, and what keeps us from floating off into space. Gravity gets stronger or weaker with distance, so the closer objects are to each other, the stronger their gravitational pull.
This same principle applies to our lives and our relationships. The closer we are to people or environments, the stronger the gravitational pull to become like them. In fact, research by social psychologist Dr. David McClelland of Harvard University found that “the people you habitually associate with, determine as much as 95 percent of your success or failure in life.” Therefore, we must be careful who we surround ourselves with, what we listen to, what we watch, and where we spend our time.
The apostle Paul knew this principle well. When writing to the church at Corinth in 55AD, he warned them about their environment because they were struggling. Much like today’s world, the people there were surrounded by almost every conceivable sin and they felt the pressure to adapt by joining in. They knew that they had been given a new life and had been forgiven of their past because of God’s grace in Christ, but they were struggling to give up their old, sinful way of life.
Therefore, Paul wrote the book of 1st Corinthians to address their problems, answer their questions, and heal the divisions they were experiencing in the church. In chapter 15 he writes, “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” (1 Corinthians 15:33-34)
Paul is not suggesting that we should only ever spend time with people who think and act like ourselves. In fact, Jesus himself was known as a “friend of sinners” and He calls us to be salt and light in the world of darkness. However, what Paul is saying is that believers need to be careful not to be misled by the world’s culture and attitude, especially toward God.
For me, I used to be a regular weed smoker. I would smoke by myself sometimes but I would mainly smoke with my friends because that was what we liked to do for fun. However, the more time I spent high, the more lost I was in reality. After I started leading a Bible study with one of my Christian friends for about a month, I realized how important it was to lead people with a sober mind. I had to distance myself from the friends I used to hang out with and surround myself with positive influences to help me be more Christ-like. I didn’t drop my old friends completely but I realized that to move forward, I needed to escape the gravitational pull and surround myself with positive, encouraging people.
As Christ followers, there will always be a strong gravitational pull toward the ways of the world. Whether that is negativity, hate, division, addiction, anger, greed, sexual immorality, lust, jealousy, pride, etc.; all sin is designed to keep us in bondage. I’m not saying that we are supposed to be perfect and sinless, but a life of freedom requires the courage to stand up for what is right and distance ourselves from certain people. We have the power to choose who or what we let in our orbit, so choose carefully.
The Bigger Picture: It’s our responsibility to escape the gravitational pull of negativity and place ourselves in the orbit of positive environments and people.
The Bigger Picture 