A parent’s responsibilities include teaching his or her child how to be a person of character whose values influence others toward what is right.
What a parent doesn’t want to see is his or her child being eroded in character because values are being influenced toward what is wrong.
I’m a blessed father because my kids have done more influencing of others than the other way around.
They haven’t been perfect.
But I haven’t, either.
That’s why we all need God’s grace and Christ’s example.
I was stirred this morning when I encountered this verse in my daily Bible reading:
“You must influence them; do not let them influence you!” (Jeremiah 15:19)
The prophet Jeremiah lived in a very troubled time in Hebrew history, about six centuries before Christ.
The storms of horrific destruction were brewing and would soon be launched upon Jerusalem and the southern Hebrew kingdom of Judah.
It was going to be a season of death and despair unlike the world had ever seen…. all because the people who wore God’s name had –despite multiple times of forgiveness from heaven — treated their Creator and His word as if they were filthy rags.
The religious leaders in Jerusalem were totally corrupt in every sense.
God had seen that there was no changing their hearts.
He needed to start over with His nation and, other than for a small remnant of believers who would survive the Babylonian exile, a destroying flood of carnage was about to cleanse the land of unrepentant idolatry.
In the years before the flood arrived in the form of the Babylonian army, God still reached out to those who might listen and he chose Jeremiah to be His voice.
God knew that He was giving Jeremiah a tough job and that frustration and failure would tempt him to quit.
That’s why it was so important for Jeremiah to remember which way the winds of influence should always blow — from God, through him and out to those who needed to hear of the better way.
I’m reminded of how the ventilation systems are designed for many “clean” rooms are in manufacturing or medical facilities. There’s always a positive air pressure, meaning that if you open the door, air blows out of the clean room rather than is sucked in.
The reason is obvious — don’t let corrupted air in that will damage or destroy the efforts occurring inside.
And so it is with our faith.
Let’s seek intimacy with God, instruction from His Word and inspiration from His Holy Spirit. The breeze of faith that more easily flows from heaven through us will keep our hearts clean.
We’ll influence others rather than allowing them to influence us.
As always, I love you
Martin
