Who are your major influences?

Influence: the power to affect others

In these last days of an election year, it seems that every commercial, newscast, talk show, blog, or conversation is geared toward trying to influence someone toward a specific topic, agenda, or candidate. The ability to influence or to shape someone’s opinion, belief system, or action is powerful but also comes with great responsibility.

Therefore, my thought provoking questions for today is:

1. Who are your major influences?

Take a minute to think about this before moving on. Your influences are people you give credence. Who do you seek advice from when struggling with an issue? Whom do you trust to give an honest or accurate answer to your questions? When hearing something new, who do you want to run it by first before deciding for yourself how you feel about something? Whom do you love to read? Whom do you watch on TV or listen to on the radio? Who do you quote when trying to explain your position on something? Seeking answers to these questions will help you identify who influences you.

Your influences might be different depending on the topic. Some of you might discover that Oprah is your influence when it comes to social issues. Others might discover that Ronald Reagan is their influence in the political world. Some may identify with Dr. Spock when it comes to child rearing. You may find yourself going to your Pastor, an elder, or another trusted Christian when it comes to spiritual matters.

But, have you ever stopped to consider that God may have intended the Bible and his Son, Jesus Christ, to be our greatest and only influence? Do we realize that the Bible contains information to encompass all areas of our life? The Bible talks about scientific principles, social principles, governing principles, child rearing principles, financial principles, spiritual principles, etc. In fact, all of these principles were created and sanctioned by God. With that said, would that make God the authority in all of these areas and the source of the most trusted information?

If this is the case, why do we go to others for information and direction when it is all available to us in our bibles?

I know some people who will never go to their Bible for direction but instead will go to someone they think has read the Bible and understands it accurately and ask them for advice and direction. Alternatively, they go to someone who has studied the Bible academically and adopt their opinions as their own without ever checking them out for themselves. Too often, we use our own reasoning skills to figure something out and then seek a philosopher or a teacher who supports our view after the fact, and use them as a means of providing credibility to our thought.

God has warned us throughout scripture to be careful in what we believe and in whom we place our trust. Jude, the half brother of Jesus, wrote about this in a letter to the believers in Jesus Christ. He was warning believers that godless men bearing false doctrines about Jesus and the Christian walk are polluting the churches. Jude 1:17-19 says, But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

Do the people we draw influence from reflect a godly life? Can you detect God’s spirit in them? Do their acts and their words reflect biblical principles and align with the example of Jesus? We must be able to answer these questions before deeming them trustworthy of influencing us. If you take the list of whom you identified earlier as your influences and filtered it against these questions, would they measure up, as someone God would want to use to influence you? If not, you need to rethink the power you have given them in your life.

However, remember God’s word is trustworthy all of the time. It is as true today as it was in biblical times. It does not change. It does not lie. It is always good for learning and teaching. You can find answers to all of life’s questions or problems in the Bible and in Jesus. Let us make them our authority, our great influence. Let us align our thinking with God’s word instead of trying to get God’s word to align with our thinking.