I am working late tonight on my message for Sunday. We are in the middle of our series called Life Swap and I am sharing about the transformation that takes place in our lives when we follow Christ. Sunday's big idea is basically that those who wish to be like Christ have to hang around Him enough to be influenced by Him. I am reading a lot about how the disciples were influenced by Jesus and even how they impacted one another. And I am wondering how I am impacted by others and how I impact them. I have some really great friends who build me up, encourage me, keep me focused and let me know when I am messing up. I believe that I have more positive influencers in my life than negative. This helps keep me on the right side of things. This is the power of relationships.
The wrong relationships can work against us. We must maintain friendships with people who do not know Christ. But we cannot be be spiritually influenced by them. We must dialogue with them, hear their issues, do our best to relate to them, but we cannot allow them to steer us in a direction other than Godward.
Honestly, most people fall on one side or the other. Either they know only Christ-followers or they know only people who are lost from God. Either extreme is not good, we need balance.
Time for an assessment:
Are you a positive spiritual influence on your friends?
Are you more influenced by people who pull you toward God or by those who pull you away from God?
Are you in relationships that 1) require you to reach out spiritually and 2) encourage you to grow spiritually?
How is the balancing act going?
If you can, come to one of the services this Sunday and be challenged to grow in your relationship with Christ.
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In the past I've run into issues of friendship with people that do know Christ, but are struggling with problems that could be a negative influence on both of us. Maintaining support but still keeping enough distance to keep myself on the right path has taken a lot of prayer and thought and proven very challenging.
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