Our Influences

Our Influences

Philippians 3:17-18 “Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us.  For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears.”

This verse stuck out to me because it is something that I believe very strongly in and it is something that I think people don’t put enough consideration into.  Who are you spending your time with?  What information are you surrounding yourself with?  We are influenced by our environment, I don’t think anyone would argue with that statement.  I think we would all agree that the people we’re around and the things we surround ourselves with will influence how we think and how we act.  Do you agree?  There have been numerous studies done to see whether nature, our DNA, or nurture, our environment and our experiences are more influential in determining the kind of person we become.  I don’t know the results of all these studies, but I do know that both are important.  Both play a significant role.  I believe this is why you can have 11 children growing up in the same house with the same parents and yet they all seem to be very different people.

Even though I think we all know that our environment and the people we spend time with influences our thoughts and our behavior, we still do very little to take control over these things.  If our child has a friend that we think is a bad influence, we will want to do something about it.  Now, depending on the age of the child and our level of influence we may or may not be able to act on that want.  However, what about us?  Do we watch who we are friends with?  Do you have negative people in your life?  Do you have people that no matter what is going on, they always seem to find something to complain about?  Do you have people in your life that drain your energy or make you feel bad about yourself when you spend time with them.  Why do we continue to spend time with these people.  

Why don’t we spend more time consciously choosing the people that we spend more time with?  If we want to live a holy life, one full of all the love and joy that comes from following Christ, then we need to surround ourselves with people that want the same thing.  I remember I told my husband Tony once that we needed more Catholic friends.  He joked and said, “Oh, now we can’t be friends with people that aren’t Catholic.  Doesn’t Jesus love all people.”  Yes, Jesus loves everyone, and so do I.  Well, I try to anyway.  However, the way I explained it to Tony was like this.  What if you wanted to be a really good tennis player.  Do you think it would be easier to become a great tennis player if you surrounded yourself with other tennis players or with basketball players.  There is nothing wrong with basketball players.  You may even like that sport.  However, if you want to get good at something you hang around with people who are either already good at it, or who are also trying to get good at it.  

This is the same with anything that you are trying to get good at.  If you want to be a really great parent, find yourself some friends that parent the way you want to parent.  If you want to be good at running, join a running group.  It is important for anyone who is serious about getting good at something to find others that are already good at it and to learn from them.  This is why having a mentor is so important.  You may not have a lot of control over your friends.  You may not have time to have friends because you are busy with work and family.  Although as I am writing this I want to add in that everyone can benefit from making time for friends.  Tony and I went out with another couple the other weekend and we had no idea how much we missed having adult friends that we can hang out with.  If you want to become better at something and you don’t know anyone that is already good at it, you can find them through books, movies, podcasts, the internet, etc.

We live in an age of technology and although it makes me crazy sometimes since I have three teenagers that spend far too much time on it, it can also be really helpful.  With the internet you can have instant access to so much information.  There are also so many books out there about every topic you can think of.  There are multiple experts out there for whatever it is you want to be good at.  Even if you can’t surround yourself with people that can help you, you can surround yourself with the information.  If you are spending your time reading on a certain topic, that information will influence your thoughts and your behaviors.  Also, there are you tube videos about almost everything as well.  So, if you are not a fan of reading, watch some you tube videos, listen to an audio book or a podcast, do whatever you need to do to surround yourself with people or information that will build you up.  

“Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us.  For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears.”  Back in the day, they understood how important it was to surround yourself with people who were living right in the eyes of the Lord.  When the Jews were taking into exile, or even when they conquered various lands the Lord always told them not to take the foreigners as their wives and husbands.  This was not because they were bad people, although many of them were, it was because God knew that if you spend all your time with people who believe differently than you do, then you may start to act like they act.  This is exactly what happened.  The Israelites started to inter-marry and then many found themselves offering sacrifices to other Gods.  

This verse is telling us to observe those who are living according to Christ.  Who is getting it right? It doesn’t even have to be someone that has it all figured out and is getting it right all the time.  It could be someone that is just one step ahead of you.  There are a lot of spiritual writers out there, there are also a lot of podcasts that can help with this.  There are some religious leaders that have you tube channels as well if you would rather watch something.  There is something out there for everyone.  There are so many great examples of the faith that have come before us and if we try to imitate them as the verse tells us to, we will be in good shape.  

Sometimes I think we get overwhelmed because we don’t know what to do.  There are so many things that can help us grow in our faith and we don’t know what we should do.  This is sometimes called analysis paralysis.  Its when there are so many choices and you spend so much time thinking about and how it will work and what if it goes wrong and what if you mess up, what if its not perfect.  You spend so much time thinking about it that you never actually do anything about it.  I don’t want this to be one of those times.  You are already doing more than a lot of people because you found this podcast and you are exposing yourself to scripture every day.  If you still want more, you could find a saint and read about their lives and what they did to live their life dedicated to God.  You could look up a book.  Just pick one thing that can help you learn how to become better at what you want to become better at.  Maybe it is some aspect of the faith, like forgiveness, humility, love, or anything else.  You can just search for books or podcasts on these topics.  Find a good example and follow it, that is what we are being called to do in today’s verse.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today.  We want to imitate those good examples Lord.  We want to grow closer to you Lord.  Please help us to see who we should imitate and who we shouldn’t.  If there is someone in our lives who is pulling us away from you we ask that you shine a light on that relationship Lord.  We want to surround ourselves with holy people so we can become more holy.  We love you Lord Jesus and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.  

Thank you for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  Remember, we forgive others not because they deserve it but because we deserve peace.  I look forward to spending time with you tomorrow.  Have a blessed day!