Whether we want to admit it or not we are all easily influenced by those close to us. Our beliefs, actions, and even the way we think, can be altered based upon those we spend the most time with. Just take a moment to look over the changes that have taken place in your life. I am sure you will find that many of those changes take place around the time you began to become closer to someone new. Because we can be easily influenced, it is important that we draw close to the right people. Filling our close circle with Godly people who can help us draw closer to the Lord.
The Bible speaks to this very subject on multiple occasions. Instructing the reader to make wise decisions about those they spend time with. Pointing to fact that those people will either lead you in the right direction or lead you astray. While we can of course have non-Christians friends and hopefully have a positive impact on them. It is of the upmost importance that we become close to other Christians. To ensure that our faith is well protected.
1 Corinthians 15:33 (ESV)
33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”
Proverbs 18:24 (ESV)
24 A man of many companions may come to ruin,
but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
Proverbs 22:24–25 (ESV)
24 Make no friendship with a man given to anger,
nor go with a wrathful man,
25 lest you learn his ways
and entangle yourself in a snare.
Aaron, the brother of Moses and the first priest, was like unto us in the fact that he too was easily able to fall under the influence of others. The Bible records two major times when he was quickly pressed by those he interacted with. The first came while Moses was with God for forty days. The people of Israel quickly believed Moses was gone for good. Causing them to turn to Aaron requesting that a golden image be made that they could serve as a God.
Exodus 32:1 (ESV)
32 When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.
While Moses was gone Aaron had undoubtedly grown closer to the very people that came to make the request. Their influence over him had grown and without even arguing he started on the task of creating an idol. An act that we clearly can see is sinful. Just as he should have been able to but his judgment was clouded by the close relationships he had cultivated.
Exodus 32:2–5 (ESV)
2 So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.”
The next time we see Aaron blindly follow after someone else was when his sister began to speak against Moses. Leading him to do the very same thing. Which ultimately stirred up the anger of the Lord towards them both. Aaron had been with Moses long enough and even seen and heard enough to know that Moses had a special calling from the Lord. But when someone close to him raised a counterpoint he quickly followed suit.
Numbers 12:1–2 (ESV)
12 Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman. 2 And they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” And the Lord heard it.
Numbers 12:4–5 (ESV)
4 And suddenly the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting.” And the three of them came out. 5 And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward.
What’s interesting is that after hearing the rebuke of the Lord and seeing his sister stricken with leprosy Aaron changes. First, he turns to Moses and acknowledges how foolish he had been. Most likely because he realized that he allowed himself to easily be lead astray.
Numbers 12:11 (ESV)
11 And Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, do not punish us because we have done foolishly and have sinned.
Then from that point on we almost only ever see his name listed in conjunction with Moses’s for the rest of his life. It seems as like he learned the importance of having the right people in your inner circle. He made a decision to not be lead astray by bad influences again and clung to the Godliest person he knew.
Numbers 13:26 (ESV)
26 And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.
Numbers 14:5 (ESV)
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel.
Numbers 15:33 (ESV)
33 And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation.
Numbers 16:3 (ESV)
3 They assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?”
Believe it or not but even all those are still not all the verses that show Aaron and Moses bound together leading up to the end of his life. You can try to believe that others don’t have a strong influence on you if you want. But the truth is the Bible wouldn’t warn about it so much if it didn’t apply to us all. We must be wise about those we become close with and allow to have influence in our lives.
We should be like Aaron and look for the Godliest people we can find and stay close to them. Giving the positions of influence in our lives to those who will cause us to grow closer to God. Doing our best not to be lead astray by outside voices.
Hopefully, we can all learn this crucial lesson before we must suffer two major fails as Aaron had to. Making a wise decision as to who you allow in your close circle could be the very thing that keeps your feet firmly planted on the narrow path to salvation.
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