I think we are all aware that all the cicumstances surrounding us change and mold who we are and who we will become. I would dare to hope, at least, that we realize no one is their "own" person either. The kind of music we like depends on what kind of music our parents do or don;t (my keyboard refuses to type an apostraphe so we will be using a ;) like or have on in the car. Our social skills and preferences depend on how we were raised or where our comfort level was set into stone back when we were lil babes. The clothes we wear, the places we go, the enviroments we allow ourselves to enter into all are pre-determined. (stick with me on this). I know I;m fortunate enough to have decent parents and a decent background and a relationship with Jesus-so I have some pretty good influences. I;ve had good friends and some bad ones. But no matter how they treated me or what our relationship was like, they influenced me. We can all too easily think of someone who has been swayed or tempted by some bad influence, though. Now I;m not saying that they are not also responsible, but the influence does display some sort of power on people;s lives. Here;s where it gets a little deeper...... wait for it.......
.....still waiting.........
what would happen if we allowed Father God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit to be our only influences? What would the world look like? What could we do? Who could we save- not just right now, for the time being, but for eternity? Now here;s some food for thought. I think some of us are fortunate enough to have brief moments where God is our only influence, but do we immediately tune into Him and turn off all the other fuzzy tv screens? How many times a day do we ignore God? or just blatantly look Him in the eyes and tell him "No. I won;t do that, I won;t go there. Sure, your Son did for me but I;m not willing to for anybody else." and feel okay about it, or not even recognize it? Scary, isn;t it? I don;t know what my point is in this, but I pray that if and when you read this something pops into your head. And when it arrives, pray about it. Think on it. Love on it a little, and see where it takes you. If you have ever heard of Mosaic you know that Edwin Rafael McManus is awesome. and he wrote a book called Wide Awake that is equally as awesome. I encourage you to read it, even if you aren;t a Christian or you aren;t into self-help books. Make the time to invest in yourself to invest in the world, which will bring God glory and change some lives, and probably make some pretty cool stories. We all have so much potential. I just imagine God being so frustrated with us for not embracing and releasing it. Its like the human race is a big giant sopping wet towel (yeah, i did just use four adjectives in a row). The wetness is our potential; we;re drowning in it people! wouldn;t you rather ring it out so we can be renewed than just let it sit there and crisp up!? Lets make something out of this.
