CBS reported recently: “Forget about the flu that has been going around – there is something else that is contagious and could put your marriage in jeopardy…  A study from Brown University suggests that divorce is contagious, and the divorce of a friend or loved-one increases your chances of getting divorced, too.  The study conducted in Framingham, Mass., found that 75% of participants were more likely to get divorced if a friend was divorced, and 33% were more likely to end their marriage even if a friend of a friend got divorced.  Researchers called the phenomenon a ‘social contagion’ – the spread of information, attitudes, and behaviors through friends, family and social networks. While psychotherapist Talia Filippelli  does not necessarily agree that divorce itself is contagious, but she said that emotions can be. ‘Emotions are contagious, and if you have somebody really unhappy in their relationship around you all the time, you may start to be critical of your own relationship,’ Filippelli said ” (CBS New York, April 30, 2014).

Who are your friends?   How do they influence you?

1.  Proverbs 13:20 – “He who walks with wise men will be wise. But the companion of fools will be destroyed.”

2.  Proverbs 22:24-25 – “Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man do not go, lest you learn his ways and set a snare for your soul.”

3.  Proverbs 27:17 – “As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friends.”

4.  1 Corinthians 15:33 – “Do not be deceived: evil company corrupts good habits.”