You may think from the title of this post I have figured out a new diet that will help you lose weight. That’s not it! This is the 4th thing I listed in my post "5 things that will hold you back". When I say, "lose the weight,” I don't mean in a literal sense, but in a hypothetical sense where the wrong people can add weight to your life and keep you from moving forward.

Here are a couple verses that can give us some insight of what the Bible has to say about this:

Psalms 1: 1 Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; 2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.

1 Corinthians 15:33 Do not be misled: Bad company corrupts good character.

I remember growing up and my parents telling me to be careful about the people I hung out with. I never really understood the importance of this until my early college days. In high school most all my friends were strong Christians and we pushed each other to grow spiritually and just as men in general. I remember beginning to spend time with some friends with different priorities than me, and pretty soon my priorities changed as well. My spiritual growth was stunted and I was being held back.  These "heavy" people can come in all shapes and sizes

bad attitudes

critical

lazy

apathetic

selfish

irresponsible

negative

cynical

the list goes on….

In the same way, the people you surround yourself with can be a benefit to you. They can encourage and nurture your spiritual growth. Some characteristics are:

joyful

driven

optimistic

helpful

caring

selfless

encouraging

dedicated

responsible

and so forth…

I'm not at all saying only spend time with "Christians". I think it is very important that we be "in" the world creating relationships and building bridges with people who don't yet know Christ. When it comes to the people you spend the most time with and invest the most energy and emotion into, that’s when you need to be concerned with their character and how that effects you and the impact it makes on your growth.

Hopefully as we become more and more aware of these things that can hold us back from growing spiritually and really in any aspect of our lives, we can begin to adapt our lives to facilitate growth.