Who Influences You?

“Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God” 3 John 1:11

    When our daughter would visit from Columbus Ohio she often brought her dog along, and it seemed nearly every visit our dog learned another bad habit from our daughter’s dog. Our little fellow imitated everything he saw the older dog do, picking up bad habits.

    Who and what we spend time with often influences us. If we are always around negative people, we can tend to become negative. On the other hand, if we are often around cheerful, positive people, we may develop that same habit and tendency.

    Jesus was an amazing person. He was bold, fearless, dauntless. He spoke with authority, faced down His critics, endured hardship, being tempted by the devil in the wilderness for forty days and overcoming temptation. Jesus is clearly someone worth emulating.

    With the many problems and challenges we face in life, we need a positive, strong, dauntless leader to influence our lives. Church, good preaching, teaching from the Bible, and especially time spent in prayer and reading God’s word are important influences. Time spent with Jesus can shape our thinking, empower our lives, influence us and enable us to survive our problems and afflictions.

    Many things influence us, from television programs and movies, to coworkers, friends, and family members. Anyone we associate with can influence the way we think and behave. When the influences around us are positive, it is a wonderful thing, but negative influences can drag us down, weaken us, remove our resolve to live virtuous, godly lives.

    We may not be able to avoid all the bad influences in our lives, but we can choose many of the influences we surround ourselves with. We can place ourselves in good company, not the least of which is surrounding ourselves with fellow Christians, and giving time to Jesus through reading His word and through prayer.

    Prayer: Dear Lord, fill us with Your presence, guide us throughout our life, and help us to become more like You. Amen.