I once heard it said that "you're the average of your five closest friends." Interesting thought, kind of makes you smile. For sure it conveys that we're a reflection of the company we keep.
I was reading 2Corinthians 11:14 recently, "And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light." Satan is always masquerading - always showing up in some costume that's not the real him. To masquerade as an angel of light means he's always trying to look better than he is. He's hiding his real identity to not be discovered. He's a poser. That's the only way he's effective - trying to appear to be something he's not - looking better than he is.
Since over time we resemble the company we keep - if we are following the one who masquerades, then we behave the way he does. We hide our real selves, we masquerade - we pose. We're afraid to be seen for who we really are. So is he.
Jesus on the other hand calls us into the light - to come out of hiding - to confess the real you, to stop any kind of faking. "Those that practice the truth come into the light" says John 3:20. Jesus said about Nathaniel, "Here is a man in whom there is no guile." Nothing false. Not "nothing wrong" mind you, just nothing false. Jesus was drawn to people like him - and Nathaniel apparently was a man devoid of posing.
Yep, in time we imitate those we follow, we become like the company we keep. Unsettling to me, but true. The motto of the state of North Carolina is "Esse Quam Videri" - "to be rather than to seem." Very much like Jesus, very much unlike the tempter.
