September 29, 2026

Business by the Book

Proverbs 13:20 He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed.

Choose your friends wisely. Someone once said that friends are a mirror, they reflect who you are. In business one must associate with people of all types, this is unavoidable, but walking with them is another story. There is a difference between associating, or cooperating, with a person and walking with them. To walk with a person means that you are going the same direction, have the same gait, move toward the same destination; that you have an agreement to be likeminded about the walk.

The Old Testament prophet Amos asked the question of questions about walking with another person. Can two walk together, except they be agreed? (Amos 3:3). This is a rhetorical question because the answer is self-evident. The obvious answer is no. Two people cannot walk together unless they agree about the walk. If one turns left and the other turns right they will no longer be walking together.

If any person chooses to walk with wise people they will be wise. If they choose to walk with fools they will do the things that fools do which will bring destruction. As a free moral agent the Lord God has established your personal ability to choose who impresses you, those from whom you receive instruction, the people you walk through life with, and those you allow to form your ideology, theology, and overall philosophy of life.

Perhaps the need for carefulness of choosing the right individuals to walk with sheds new light and a more formable meaning of Colossians 2:8 in which the Apostle Paul warns:  Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. In business, as in religious matters, who you choose to walk with is important. The choice is yours, always has been.

Dr. William Howe