{"id":204,"date":"2019-07-03T01:41:33","date_gmt":"2019-07-03T01:41:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/?p=204"},"modified":"2019-08-03T14:26:09","modified_gmt":"2019-08-03T14:26:09","slug":"influence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/2019\/07\/03\/influence\/","title":{"rendered":"Influence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I used to secretly believe that I could have been a talented\nmusician. I do still believe that, just not secretly; I\u2019ve gone and told all of\nyou! I can keep a beat and hold a tune and I enjoy most genres of music. I like\nmusic not just for the joy it brings me, but for the intrigue of how the notes\nare put together. I marvel at the fact that music can cause you to feel sadness\nor excitement or joy \u2013 without lyrics. How does that work? I believe I am not a\nmusician today because I never had the\ninfluence when I was young.<\/strong> Certainly, if I had grown up in a house full of\nmusicians, I would have received the influence to learn and practice and grow\nin that direction. A major contributor to who we are, what we do, and how we\nact are the influences we grew up with. These are not always people. We can be\ninfluenced by experiences, memories, dreams, health conditions, ideologies,\ndiet, fantasies, living conditions, habits, finances, pollution, etc\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are the way we are because of the past. But, today we\nneed to \u201cplay the hand we were dealt.\u201d We might gain some insight by examining\nour past, but there is no sense dwelling on things we cannot change. We will\nbecome our future person because of the present.  The influences that we accept today are\nforming who we will become. A good friend of mine would say, \u201cToday is the day to practice who you want\nto become.<\/strong>\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An influence is something that has the capacity to affect a change<\/strong> in behavior. We are not bound to be\nchanged by anything other than our own choice. I can influence you through my\nexample, but that does not guaranty that you will change. The change is up to you.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Deuteronomy 13:6-9, Israel was warned against being\ninfluenced by their loved ones to follow other gods. If someone tried to\nsuggest that they worship idols, the corrective action was severe:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“So\nyou shall stone him to death because he has sought to seduce you from the LORD\nyour God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of\nslavery. “Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and will never again<\/strong> do such a wicked thing\namong you. (Deuteronomy 13:10-11)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe no one ever was stoned to death for this, but we do\nknow that \u201cnever again\u201d didn\u2019t really come to pass. We have at least one\naccount of someone who did not follow this statute:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For\nwhen Solomon was old, his wives turned\nhis heart away<\/strong> after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to\nthe LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. (1 Kings 11:4)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Should Solomon have stoned his wives to death? How does this\nbrutal advice apply to me today? The choice to follow an influence is mine; I\nneed to make the right choice. Here is a real-life example\u2026 At one time in my\nlife, I worked in an office with some cool guys and I was grateful to be\naccepted into their group as an equal. There was nothing bad or evil about\nthem, but they did use profanity in their everyday language. They were an\ninfluence on me and eventually, I chose\nto change my behavior<\/strong> and I adopted some verbal patterns that I won\u2019t\nrepeat here.  After a while, I was\ngracefully reminded that such speech is not godly, and I stopped. But, my point\nis, the people you choose to hang out\nwith will naturally influence you.<\/strong> \nChoosing not to implement bad influences is never a challenge if you\nprevent those influences in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He\nwho walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will suffer\nharm. (Prov 13:20)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do\nnot be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.” (1 Corinthians\n15:33)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plan is clear then, right? Surround yourself with good people<\/strong> and your choices will be easier;\nthe influences on you will be more righteous. Yes, I am thinking of our Savior,\nof course.  He is the ultimate\ninfluence.  Clearly, we would do\nourselves good to imitate Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While\nhe was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice\nout of the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am\nwell-pleased; listen to Him!<\/strong>” (Matthew\n17:5)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The list of positive influences you can find in the Bible is\na long one, for sure.  This is reason\nalone to spend time reading scripture. But, in real life, we sometimes get attracted\nby traits of others such as wit, looks, humor, wealth, charisma, passion,\npower, confidence, intelligence, etc., and we forget our need to exercise\ndiscernment of spirit in choosing our acquaintances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do\nnot associate with a man given to anger; Or go with a hot-tempered man, Or you\nwill learn his ways And find a snare for yourself. (Proverbs 22:24-25)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think this proverb can be applied to any undesirable trait,\nnot just anger. There is another man\nwith an undesirable trait and a formidable influence<\/strong> that we need to be on\nthe alert for – the old man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

knowing\nthis, that our old self was crucified<\/strong>\nwith Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we\nwould no longer be slaves to sin; (Romans 6:6)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this scripture, Paul is making a definitive assumption \u2013\nthat we, his readers, have already\naccomplished the goal successfully.<\/strong> That our old self is dead.  But, for me, that is not really true\nyet.  That guy is still able to influence\nme. Paul says in a different spot something that describes my situation a bit\nmore accurately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\nwere taught with reference to your former way of life to lay aside<\/strong> the old man who is\nbeing corrupted<\/strong> in accordance with deceitful desires, (Ephesians 4:22)\n(NET)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBeing corrupted\u201d is not in the past, but present. For this\nreason, we need to lay him aside consistently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And let us not forget that we also are influences on others<\/strong>. \nOur words and actions will be witnessed by the others in our lives and\nthey will be choosing whether or not to be influenced by us. If we are not\ncareful, we could be jeopardizing our own character, wishing we were drowning\nwith a millstone around our neck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026but\nwhoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would\nbe better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be\ndrowned in the depth of the sea. “Woe to the world because of its\nstumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to\nthat man through whom the stumbling block comes! (Matthew 18:6-7)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also need to be concerned with how we influence others, not just little ones who believe in Christ, but letting our light shine before all men<\/strong>. (Mat5:16)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026in\nall things show yourself to be an example\nof good deeds<\/strong>, with purity in doctrine, dignified, sound in speech which is\nbeyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad\nto say about us. (Titus 2:7-8)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we allow Christ to be our primary influence in life by\ngetting to know Him and imitating Him in every way, we will become influencers\nin the world that will lead others to choose life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set\nyour mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. (Colossians\n3:2)               <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Peace to you and glory to God!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-Nate<\/p>\n\n\n\n

www.paraklesis.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I used to secretly believe that I could have been a talented musician. I do still believe that, just not secretly; I\u2019ve gone and told all of you! I can keep a beat and hold a tune and I enjoy most genres of music. I like music not just for the joy it brings me, … Continue reading “Influence”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":228,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204\/revisions\/228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.paraklesis.net\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}