Proverbs 22:24-25

Make no friendship with a man given to anger,
nor go with a wrathful man,
lest you learn his ways
and entangle yourself in a snare.

We ought to be wise (and wary) about the friends we choose. Scripture says we should take heed to ourselves, how we live—putting off the old, and putting on the new. We should also take heed to whom we associate with. Here—a person who is easily provoked, touchy, and who doesn’t care what he says or does (about man or God) —that person is not fit to be a friend. As we are commanded in Ephesians 4:29 to use words fitting for the moment in order to build others up, having friends who mock this will cause us to do likewise.

Matthew Henry states similarly, “Those we go with we are apt to grow like. Our corrupt hearts have so much tinder in them that it is dangerous conversing with those that throw about the sparks of their passion. We shall thereby get a snare to our souls, for a disposition to anger is a great snare to any man, and an occasion of much sin.” The apostle Paul extols us to imitate Christ and Paul’s following of Christ. “What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me–practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you” (Phil. 4:9).