What's Influencing You?

I remember the first time that I watched the iconic movie Frozen. It was an absolutely magical day! I felt like a Disney princess, superhero and snow queen all in one. I was on top of the world. If you don’t know what Frozen is, it’s a Disney princess movie with a strong lead character named Elsa who turns out to be a snow queen. After watching it at the tender age of six, there was absolutely no one who could tell me that I wasn’t a Disney princess, superhero or snow queen. Moral of the story; children are easily influenced. back then I was only six years old, yet I am still regularly influenced today. As a matter of fact, we all are.

I'm still extremely influenced by shows I watch today; I begin to talk like the characters, act like them and honestly think like them! Imagine if little six-year-old me had watched a bad movie instead? I would have been just as easily impressed. I know we might all think we have the willpower to control ourselves against external influences but some things are subconscious. We don’t notice the changes until they affect us drastically, for better or for worse. A verse that I hold dear is Proverbs 4:23 “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life”. Our hearts are the wellsprings of life!

If a beautiful crystal clear fountain was to become infested by filthy water and all sorts of parasites, it would be because something infiltrated the source. Everything starts from somewhere - I used to struggle with intrusive thoughts until I got to the source, the origin, the wellspring. How can a fountain be constantly fed dirt and filth and be expected to produce lovely clean water? It makes no sense. In the same way, how can we feed ourselves with explicit music and vulgar movies and expect to think righteous thoughts, act godly and glorify God in our everyday lives? The Bible prompts us to continuously be righteous but we cannot achieve this if we persistently provide ourselves with dirty water/unrighteous things. Philippians 4:8 (NIV) says, “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

So what can we do to clear away that dirty water? First, we should protect our hearts because all other things flow from them - the things we say, the way we treat people and what we think. Cut out what is unrighteous in your life, whether it's listening to explicit music or watching distasteful TV shows, the Holy Spirit lets us know through conviction in our hearts. This is one of the most crucial steps I took in giving everything to God. I know that it’s hard to let go of things that occupy your time now and bring you happiness, but if you replace them with spending time in His Word, worshipping and praying, you will begin to be positively influenced by the Holy Spirit, and God will begin to mould you into who He wants you to be. Then you can experience true joy!

We have the greatest opportunity of all, to be influenced by the mighty Word of God. The powerful message of Jesus! We have the privilege to be directed by God Himself and the opportunity to let His Word transform us! Isn’t that amazing? So I challenge you today to take that first step, feed yourself with what will bring back that crystal clear water and let the Almighty God influence you.