There’s this well-known saying that goes something like, “a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough.” Another take on the same idea is the phrase “one bad apple can spoil the whole batch.” I like the way that the Apostle Paul puts it when speaking to the troubled, morally-challenged church at Corinth: “Do not be misled: Bad company corrupts good character.” (1 Corinthians, 15:33)
One of Aesop’s lesser-known fables tells the story of a man who wishes to purchase a donkey, so he decides to give him a test before buying him. So, he takes him home and puts him in the field with his other donkeys. The new donkey wanders away from the herd, joining the laziest and fattest one of the bunch. So, seeing this, the man immediately takes the donkey back to the owner who is surprised that he was able to test the donkey in such a short time. The man says, “Well, I didn’t even need to see how he worked. I know that he would be just like the one he chose to be his friend.”
It’s tragic that too many people fall into bad ways because of the the company they have chosen to keep. Good people can become bad people when they associate with those who pressure them into compromising who they are—their beliefs, their morals, their values, and their core. This is certainly true with young people. There is an age when kids are very impressionable, when character is molded and values are discovered. Sadly, a great number of kids get caught up in so desperately wanting to fit in that they accept whatever kind of attention they can get—good or bad. They get pressured into doing things that they otherwise would never do and become that which they should never have become. Why? It’s because at the root of who we all are, we like to be liked; we need to be needed; we love to be loved.
There are so many good people with good hearts that have lost sight of who they are simply because toxic people have come along and poisoned their well. But this is also true about organizations and groups. Businesses crumble because a bad seed germinates and begins to choke out the good. Churches become divisive and split because a few embittered cells begin to grow and fester like cancer, ruining an otherwise healthy body. Friendships disintegrate because acidic people have blinded and polluted one or another. It just takes a little bit of bad to infiltrate the good and make an uncontrollable mess of things.
But the idea of bad apples goes well beyond that of just bad people. Bad company can also mean those unhealthy things that we invite into our lives and spend so much time with; the things we allow into our lives can also corrupt our character. This has proved to be true in my life. When I have watched a number of films that contain inappropriate “adult” language, I find myself more prone to blurting out one of those words when I become agitated—not something that is characteristic of me, but something that has infiltrated and influenced my character. That’s not me, and I don’t like it.
Bad company comes in the form of many things. It’s trash TV—shows with no redeeming value; it’s angry, negative blogs or news reports; it’s inappropriate websites with graphic sexual content; it’s music with angry, misogynistic, racist, negative or indignant lyrics; it’s mind-numbing video games filled with rewards for engaging in violence. These things—this company we choose to keep—can also threaten and weaken our character. They have a definite allure and a dangerous excitement to them, but if we become friends with these things, just as yeast influences the dough, these things will change who we are.
Likewise, if we surround ourselves with good people, if we choose edifying and uplifting friends and embrace creative, positive and healthy interests and activities, our character will grow in strength. We become confident, less reliant upon others for validation and approval. We begin to see the good in people and find opportunities be an encouraging influence to others. We aren’t bound by oppressive people nor do we feel easily coerced into choosing destructive, unhealthy things. Instead, we become a superior yeast that helps others rise to their beautiful potential.
If there is bad yeast in your life, get rid of it. Don’t allow it in your life. If there are cancerous people or things overtaking you, cut it out. If you’ve taken up company with the wrong ass, get up and join the good members of the herd. Even if you feel too tainted or too far gone to possibly change, it’s amazing what simply surrounding yourself with good things and good people will do.
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