TODAY’S WORD FOR MONDAY DECEMBER 14, 2015.
INFLUENCE
INFLUENCE
Power to control or affect others by authority or indirect means; persuasive; example; a person or thing that exerts power.
I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world. Romans 1:8.
As Solomon grew older, his wives turned his heart after other gods. I Kings 11:4.
Think of all of the influences that affect your life today. The peer pressure, which is usually negative, on young people as well as on adults is enormous. The world is basically evil because of the influence of Satan.
There are the influences of television commercials, television itself, movies, newspapers, magazines, talk radio, television news and the internet. As believers we have the difficult decision to make every day of what is negative and what is positive in what we see, read and hear.
The line between what is right or wrong has become blurred. We are told and children are taught in school that they must tolerate things we know to be wrong. If we are not tolerant we are said to be prejudiced and we are labeled a bigot.
If you succumb to the negative influences in your life, you are not a leader but a follower. If you are a follower you will accept almost every influence in your life as acceptable. You basically respond as the old saying says, “If someone tells you to jump you say how far?”
In the Old Testament we have the recorded history of Israel from its beginning, when God promised Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation, right through to its destruction. The decline of Israel was caused by the evil influences of those who did not love God and the Israelites never learned from their mistakes.
God planned that Israel would be a nation led by God through the guidance and God-given authority of the priests, the judges and the prophets. The decline of Israel began with the death of the high-priest Eli. His two sons were the new priests and they turned evil, choosing not to follow Eli’s Godly example. The result was that Israel became susceptible to the influences of the pagan nations around them.
The Israelites soon rejected God’s leadership and wanted a king to lead them. They went to Samuel and asked him to appoint a king to lead them just as the other nations around them had. Samuel warned them that by doing this they were rejecting God and the day would come when they would cry out for relief from the rule of a king.
Saul was appointed and was a good and successful king in the beginning but soon he disobeyed God. After Saul came David who was Israel’s most Godly king. Then came Solomon who started out well and then made the terrible mistake of marrying women from foreign nations who worshipped idols and false gods.
Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines and allowed their pagan influences to corrupt him and it accelerated the decline of Israel. After Solomon died, Israel was divided into two kingdoms, Israel and Judah. Both kingdoms turned to worshipping false gods succumbing to the influence of ungodly nations. God brought judgement on them and they eventually were conquered and were taken as exiles to foreign nations.
But in contrast we must share with you that God provides many positive influences on our lives today. God is very much alive and is at work in this evil world. We are to recognize these positive influences that come from God and build on them.
The apostle Paul was a positive influence on those who became believers in the first century. Paul encouraged them to be strong in their commitment to Christ so that they would be a positive influence in a corrupt world. Paul said in I Corinthians to “Imitate me, just as I imitate Christ.” When we imitate Christ in our lives we will have a positive influence on each person that our lives touch.
Our memory verse for this week is found in I Thessalonians 5:18:
Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Help me to be an influence for good in someone’s life today. May others see You through me and help me to glorify Your name and be a shining light to a world that is evil and living in darkness.
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