CULTURESample

CULTURE: Friends and Influencers

Day Three

Redefine culture. What does that look like with the people that surround us? Most of my teenage years were spent away from Christ. In my senior year, that all changed. Finally, I was able to fully understand what being a follower of Christ meant. The hardest change for me was not walking away from bad decisions, drugs, alcohol, or even cussing. It was the relationships I was in, the friends I had surrounded myself with. 

I soon came to realize that the voices I was allowing in my life weren’t leading me to Christ. I had a huge choice to make. Who was I going to let be the loudest voice in my life? Who was going to influence me?

In The Message, Ephesians 4:17 says, “And so I insist—and God backs me up on this —that there be no going along with the CROWD, the empty-headed, mindless CROWD. They’ve refused for so long to deal with God that they’ve lost touch not only with God but with reality itself.”

We have a choice to make! There will be a crowd we allow to influence our lives. I learned early in my walk with God that who you surround yourself with has a huge impact on your relationship with Jesus. 

Questions for you today: 

Who are you surrounding yourself with?  Name the people you spend the most time with. Often the reflection of who you are is who you surround yourself with. We need to be surrounding ourselves with people who are leading us to Christ, not away from him. 

Who has the most influence in your life?  Name the people you listen to the most. Are they influencing you in a good way? We need people who are encouraging us to make the right decisions. So many times a student gets in trouble because they let someone influence them to do wrong. 

Surround yourself with a crowd that is leading you towards Jesus.

Galatians 6:14 NLT “...Because of that CROSS, my interest in this world has been crucified,  and the world’s interest in me also died.”

There you go. You have spent three days being challenged to take a look at the culture you surround yourselves with. Maybe you’ve realized you have to make some changes.  

When you’re hungry, you could eat a bunch of junk food and it wold fill you up. While you may be satisfied, you’re full of something not good for you. What your body really needs is something healthy that will help you grow. Culture is the same. Are you filling up on things that are healthy and will help you grow in your relationship with Jesus? Or are you filling up on junk?