INFLUENCESample

I Was All...

When I was in junior high, I had a friend from youth group named Frankie. I was a pretty nerdy, shy kid and Frankie was a loud, life of the party kind of person. I know he was cool because he always wore a leather jacket. How we became friends is a bit of a mystery to me; we were so different!

Frankie had a certain way of telling stories. He would talk about things that happened at school with his other friends like this:

“I was all...”

“And then Brian was all..”

“And then we were all...”

“He was all...”

“She was all...”

Did you catch it? He described everything that someone did or said by saying they were “all.” After hanging out with Frankie for a while, even I was all...

Then one day, my step dad was all, “Why do you keep talking like that?”

Without even realizing it, I had picked up Frankie’s weird habit. I had come under Frankie’s influence.

1 Corinthians chapter 15 says that, “bad company corrupts good character.” In my case, Frankie’s company corrupted good grammar. Its important to consider who you surround yourself with. You are called to influence, not to be influenced. You don’t need to fear reaching out to anyone, but you need to pay attention to how they are influencing you. If you don’t then you could be all, different than what God wants you to be.

Challenge:

1. THINK ABOUT IT! Who in your life has influence over you?
2. REFLECT! Are there any habits that you have picked up from the people around you that you need to stop?
3. PRAY! Jesus, show me the areas of my life that are being influenced away from You. Help me to stand firm in who You have made me.