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Influence
'SOMEHOW OR OTHER YOU WERE INFLUENCED AND LED ASTRAY...' 1 CORINTHIANS 12:2
The Oxford dictionary defines 'influence' as: 'the power or ability to affect someone's beliefs or actions'. So, are you an influence or are you influenced? One of the biggest influences on us is the culture around us. There's Music Culture - Hip Hop with its bikinis and bling, Metal with its Marshall Amps and hair dye.
The latest overnight success interviewed in NME or on MTV as if the world needed another Pop Idol! There's Tech Culture; the latest and most funky software and gadgets; Shopping online and never doing anything old-fashioned like picking up a pen - why write when you can type! We live in a media driven culture that's very fast paced and we hear a lot of things during our day from news clips, celebrities, advertising and politicians to name a few. But in all of what we hear we have a choice to let it influence us or not.
Remember that dictionary definition? 'the power or ability to affect someone's beliefs or actions'. God wants us to make sure that the power is flowing in the right direction - His power through us to the world - not the other way round.
As Christians, the culture that should influence us the most should be the culture of God's Kingdom. What's that? Kingdom culture is God's values being lived out daily, like loving your neighbours as yourself (see Luke 10:27) and being kind to people even when they're not kind to you (see Matthew 5:44). You see God's way of doing things isn't the same as the world's way, but it has the best results. Today, make sure you are an influencer not one of the influenced.
written by Bob Gass
'SOMEHOW OR OTHER YOU WERE INFLUENCED AND LED ASTRAY...' 1 CORINTHIANS 12:2
The Oxford dictionary defines 'influence' as: 'the power or ability to affect someone's beliefs or actions'. So, are you an influence or are you influenced? One of the biggest influences on us is the culture around us. There's Music Culture - Hip Hop with its bikinis and bling, Metal with its Marshall Amps and hair dye.
The latest overnight success interviewed in NME or on MTV as if the world needed another Pop Idol! There's Tech Culture; the latest and most funky software and gadgets; Shopping online and never doing anything old-fashioned like picking up a pen - why write when you can type! We live in a media driven culture that's very fast paced and we hear a lot of things during our day from news clips, celebrities, advertising and politicians to name a few. But in all of what we hear we have a choice to let it influence us or not.
Remember that dictionary definition? 'the power or ability to affect someone's beliefs or actions'. God wants us to make sure that the power is flowing in the right direction - His power through us to the world - not the other way round.
As Christians, the culture that should influence us the most should be the culture of God's Kingdom. What's that? Kingdom culture is God's values being lived out daily, like loving your neighbours as yourself (see Luke 10:27) and being kind to people even when they're not kind to you (see Matthew 5:44). You see God's way of doing things isn't the same as the world's way, but it has the best results. Today, make sure you are an influencer not one of the influenced.
written by Bob Gass
