The psalmist is not saying that we should not be around “the wicked.” Rather we are not to “walk in the counsel of the wicked.” We are not to “sit in the seat of scoffers.” We are not to base our decisions on the recommendations or rules of the wicked and scoffers.
Jesus does not come to take us out of the world, for we are “the salt of the earth.” (Matthew 5: 13)
As salt, we keep the world seasoned, preserved, cured. We make the wounds of the world sting.
Paul reminds us to “walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time.” (Colossians 4: 5) He tells us to “let [our] speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that [we] may know how [we] ought to answer each person.” (Colossians 4: 6)
Jesus prays to the Father, “I do not ask that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one… As You sent Me into the world, so I have sent them into the world… The glory that You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one. I in them and You in Me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that You sent Me and loved them even as You loved Me.” (John 17: 15, 22 – 24)
Grace Partakers 