How are you influenced?

Every night my family sit around the table and have dinner.  No tablets, no mp3 players, no phones.  Just us, as a family, having dinner.  I know it is rare today to do this, but I feel it is very important. 

As part of our dinner, we share the “best” and “worst” part of our day.  However, after our blessing, my youngest spoke up and informed us she said a blessing before lunch at school and some of the other children laughed.  I assured her she was okay and that sometimes people laugh when they don’t understand.

Tonight, she informed us that three of her “friends” joined her in blessing their lunches.  Needless to say, I am more than pleased and proud of her courage.

Today, it is so easy to be influenced by others.  Wanting to be accepted and loved by others is a natural desire we all share.  As Christians though,  there may come a time when we have to go against what is popular and do what we know is right.  We may be laughed at and ridiculed but remember we were told this would happen. 

I believe my daughter was rewarded for her faith and commitment by the Spirit moving the other children to join her.  Now our reward may not be as visible… as a matter of fact, we may never see it here on earth.  We are promised a reward though if we remain faithful to Him.

Find the refuge and influence you need in the Word.

Where is your heart?

Isaiah 29:13. (NKJV) Therefore, the Lord said: “Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men,”

It seems to be a fad today, lifting “holy hands”. I mean there are even words for it. “Hands of praise”. Google that and see how many images come up. Often times we find ourselves going through the “rituals” of religion. Including going to a place of worship, singing the praise songs, lifting our hands, praying aloud, and listening to the sermon. But where is our heart?

The first time I attended our place of worship, I was a little skeptical. “These people are crazy,” I thought to myself. I was used to the outbursts of emotion but the whole lifting hands during the songs was a little discerning. Later, I began to understand it was a total submission to God and asking for His presence in the service. Okay, I can hang with that. I still found it a little hard to do though, even a little embarrassing. “What would people say,” I thought. “Would they look at me funny?” Because, Lord knows, I was looking at them a little funny to begin with.

After attending a while, I noticed something a little different about some. They didn’t really seem “into it”. You know what I mean? You can tell when someone is really into something by the expression on his or her face. As a musician (I play the drums) I remember my band mates teasing me about closing my eyes while playing. My response would be, “dude, I’m getting into it”. My entire focus was on what the piece of music I was playing. Same thing with my radio production work. A co-worker would tease me because I would listen back to the finished project with my eyes closed, again, totally focused on the task.

Maybe you feel like you’ve been going through the motions but haven’t heard from God lately. If so, that may just be the issue. You’re just going through the motions. So often we find it easy to get into a rut as such. Just simply going through the motions because that’s what we’ve always done. So why change? Because whatever we’re doing is not worth doing if our heart isn’t in it.

So, the next time we’re in worship, let’s make certain we’re not just going through the motions and our hearts are where our hands are. In total submission to the Father.