keeping good company

Acts 4:13
    Growing up, I thought my mother had some special gift like ESP or something. She always seemed to know what I had been up to and with whom I had been hanging around. I learned later that this special sense was called 'being a parent' and that it is acquired at the birth of your first child and develops exponentially. One day I asked her how she seemed to know so much about my life. She replied, "It's in your attitude." 
     True enough! The Bible repeatedly warns us about the ways our associtations can have an effect on our attitudes and consequently our actions. For example, 1Corinthians 15:33 reads "Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners." KJV and Psalm 1 clearly instructs us as to the downward path one takes when he begins to "walk in the counsel of the ungodly..." One the positive side, Proverbs 30:20 admonishes that "He who walks with the wise grows wise..."
     In our text, Acts 4:13, Peter and John had been called on the carpet, as it were, by the chief religious rulers to give an answer for their preaching. They boldly professed Jesus Christ as having been crucified and resurrected and the only way to salvation (Acts 4:12).
    Those who questioned them knew that these men were just common men; uneducated fishermen, but there was something more to them that was noticeable.
     The message and the manner with which they spoke was noteworthy. They spoke with such confidence of Jesus and so boldly to those who were of authority who questioned them. Their conclusion was that these men had "been with Jesus". Their association with Him had affected their attitudes and their actions.
     Not accusing, just asking...With whom have you been keeping company? How has that relationship affected you? What have others noticed?
      A traditional chorus that can be found in most any hymnal, "To Be Like Jesus" is a fitting song to be sung throughout your day as a reminder of the company you keep.