Mingled

There are certain items that can become mingled with or in other items with disastrous results. Imagine if some peanuts are mingled within your meal and you have a peanut allergy. What if it’s not an allergy but a great food dislike — for me, if you put a small amount of cilantro in my food, I am upset. It’s as if the cilantro overtakes the entire meal. What if you have a little dish soap that was not rinsed from a glass so your nice clear water tastes like soap? By the way, in my opinion cilantro tastes like dish soap. 

You get the picture, though, right? If you have a little of something mingled or mixed with something else, bad things can happen. The Bible speaks of this too. In Psalm 106:35 we read: “But they mingled themselves with their enemies and learned to copy their works of darkness” (TPT). The reason for the problem of mingling is in the verse. The people mingled with others and this led to the people copying them. Like the peanuts, the dish soap, and the cilantro, a little mingling can be overwhelming and disastrous. But instead of needing an epipen, to dump out a glass of water, or to trash a meal that includes a sad excuse for an ingredient, this mingling is more destructive. 

Maybe while growing up, your parents told you to be careful who you hung around. You become your friends. It may have fell on deaf ears back then, but it’s the truth. If you hang around certain people, you become more like them. You rub off on each other. Environment and friends are big factors in our lives, hence the reason we are to choose our friends wisely and watch our environments. In mingling with the people who were not God fearing people, they were led down a bad path. They began to copy “works of darkness.” 

Let us consider some mingling situations. We hang our with our friend, Miss Gossip. Two minutes after the door closes, she has already mentioned the troubled marriage of mutual friends and the job loss of the neighbor. As she drools over all of this information she has to share, she probes you for any additional information you could provide. She loves to be the center of attention so she needs all the ammunition she can get. Before you know it, you also are the gossip. How about when you hang out with Mr. Complainer? The moment you get together, the mood changes. Everything is so depressing. I mean, why wouldn’t it be — nothing is going right. The car just broke down. It cost $300 to fix. The mail is late. The spouse is nagging. The dog won’t stop barking. Complain complain complain. How can you quiet Mr. Complainer? Complain yourself. Let him know he’s not the only one. You have problems too. Complain complain complain. 

These are only a few examples. Mingling can introduce a person to drug use which ignites an addiction. Mingling can lead to an affair. Mingling can cause a lack of appreciation and a lack of obedience. Mingling can lead to bad behavior and a bad attitude. Mingling can lead you down many avenues of sin. Sadly, you do not usually see you have turned down a different road. It’s usually a slow path of decent. Be mindful friends, you become your friends.