Influence?

I’ve been having some pretty intense conversations lately that are causing me to consider who and what has influenced me over the years.  You don’t realize but all of a sudden you find yourself on auto pilot responding to people and situations without asking how you came to that answer or conviction in the first place.

No this isn’t about my faith-basics like Jesus, the Bible or theological essentials that you would take a bullet for, but rather socially and culturally arrived at convictions I’ve picked up over the years… and frankly, some of them grieve me.

Even though some recent conversations have been heavy, investigating what and who has influenced me has been liberating!  It’s like hacking through an overgrown field only to find yourself coming to a breathtaking clearing.  At the same time some of this hacking away at influences has me discovering boundaries that have stood the test of time and I’m glad they have influenced me over the years.

At the end of the day, we must keep asking, we must keep investigating — we must keep determining what is influencing us.  What is it for you?  If it is anything other than the bedrock of the Bible (Matt 7:24-27), the shifting sands of time, people, cultures and personal opinions will sooner than later leave us all asking, “Who or what is influencing me.”  Because something is, it’s just a matter of determining what.

walk on,

Pastor Andrew