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Influence

If you spend 15 minutes with someone, they influence your life

When my friend Scott first made this comment to me years ago I questioned it.  My thinking was, surely I am not that easily influenced.  As the years have tumbled along though, I find that it is more true than I could have imagined.

Thinking about this past week I have had brief influences that vary in degrees of significance yet still meet the qualification of being influential.

I have had:

• Compliments that have encouraged me in a certain direction of thought
• Quiet Criticisms that have challenged me to rethink other thoughts
• A good natured invitation to enjoy a past-time from a “past time” in my life (which I accepted by the way)
• Placed in my hands what looks like a soul-challenging book
• Another quote was passed along to me “Determination is not character”

All of this in just a few days of 15 minute connections.  I can’t help but wonder where I have  exercised influence in the lives of others.  For as true as it is that we are influenced by that 15 minutes, it is equally sure that we exert a similar influence on others.

A man has joy by the answer of his mouth, And a word spoken in due season, how good it is!

-Proverbs 15:23 (NKJV)

Prepared

Just back from taking a test.

It seems as though it’s been a long time since my mind was worked that way.  Actually I liked it.  To me there is not much that beats being ready for a test and passing it (we’ll wait to see if my confidence matches my marks).

Life is full of tests though.  Those that come all of a sudden are the hardest to be ready for.  The sudden death, the terminal prognosis, nothing prepares you for these things.

At camp this morning I taught on the book of Job.    Talk about being unprepared.  In one day he loses his Livestock, his Living, and his flesh and blood.   We use his utterance of worship so often that there is a tendency to forget the context.    Having just learned of his enormous loss he says:

“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return there. The LORD gives, and the LORD takes away. May the name of the LORD be blessed!” (Net Bible)

He gives his Lord first place over all.  This is worship.

Coming up on any of life’s test, the one sure way to be as prepared as possible is to “Fear God and shun evil”.

“I don’t remember”

I ran into a young man this evening that I haven’t seen for a long time. He lamented that he was “back to school”.

 

Hoping to encourage him, I inquired about what he had done this past summer. He chuckled, and with an honest, faraway look in his eye replied “I don’t remember, I honestly don’t remember”.

This struck me as somewhat odd, considering summer only ended last week.

As I have been mulling over his curious response, two thoughts have struck me.

The first thought has to do with a song I used to listen to years ago. (Please pardon the lengthy quote but all of the words have signifigance)

What Sin? – Morgan Cryar (Love Over Gold)

It happened so long ago
And I cried out for mercy back then.
I plead the blood of Jesus
Begged him to forgive my sin.
But I still can’t forget it
It just won’t go away.
So I wept again, “Lord wash my sin,”
But this is all He’d say,

 

Chorus:
What sin, what sin?
Well that’s as far away as the east is from the west.
What sin, what sin?
It was gone the very minute you confessed
Buried in the sea of forgetfulness.

 

The heaviest thing you’ll carry
Is a load of guilt and shame.
You were never meant to bear them
So let them go in Jesus name.
Our God is slow to anger
Quick to forgive our sin
So let Him put them under the blood
Don’t bring them up again.
Cause He’ll just say,

 

Chorus
What sin, what sin?
Well that’s as far away as the east is from the west.
What sin, what sin?
It was gone the very minute you confessed
Buried in the sea of forgetfulness.

 

Lord, please deliver me from my accusing memory.
Nothing makes me weak this way, then when I hear you say,

 

Chorus
What sin, what sin?
Well that’s as far away as the east is from the west.
What sin, what sin?
It was gone the very minute you confessed
Buried in the sea of forgetfulness.

 

(c) 1995 Kata Dioko Music, ASCAP

 

For those who have been washed in the Blood of Christ (I John 1:7), we stand clean before our God. He states it plainly through the pen of the prophet Isaiah.

Isaiah 43:25 “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions
for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.”

This principle of “judicial forgetfulness” is a wonder to me. The young man I spoke to merely couldn’t remember the incidents for the last two months. That is of small consequence. My God doesn’t remember my confessed sin. Only the clear light of eternity will expose the magnitude of this, my reality.

Secondly I had this thought, what will be the eternal reality of those of you who read this blog? Will your sins be forgiven and forgotten by the Righteous Judge? I shudder to think of the opposite reality. In His mercy, God has warned us in this manner:

Hosea 9:9 “… He will remember their iniquity; He will punish their sins.”

Eternity hinges on what we do with the gift of Jesus.

Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”

Praise God if you know that He will not remember your sin.

Seek God, through His Word, if you are not sure.

 

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Where are we going?

 

“If we don’t change direction soon, we’ll end up where we’re going.” -Professor Irwin Corey

Now to be honest I know nothing about this “Professor”. From a quick google search I am sure I would not enjoy his act. But he got this idea dead on.

As a matter of fact in some ways he is merely rewording Solomon’s words from Proverbs 4:26

” Ponder the path of your feet, And let all your ways be established.”

Course corrections are a part of life. And it should be added, a vital part. If we don’t stop to ponder our direction though, we will, in all probability, end up at an entirely undesired location. Bonhoeffer brings the whole topic into focus when he said:

 

“If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction”

After tomorrow I will have the privilege of being on a week’s vacation. Over these next 7 days I trust that before the Lord I will once again have the opportunity to “Ponder the Path of my feet”. Let me encourage you to do the same.

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Remember how dumb you are…..

Don’t even start.

If you have been influenced by the politically correct among us, you probably object to this title.  The contention is that this type of statement damages ones “self-esteem”.  I couldn’t disagree with you more.

Dumbness [def:lacking intelligence]is the word that best describes my ability, or inability, as the case might be.

The goal of making this space readable and worthwhile  will take effort on my part.  That effort will be short circuited unless I admit “how dumb I am”.

It’s the same with life.

Isaac Asmiov and I agree on very little.  But I do like the following quote:

 “People who think they know everything are

a great annoyance to those of us who do.”

 Perhaps it is assuming too much to say that this is a tongue in cheek statement.  But I don’t think so.  As president of the Mensa society I am sure he understood how little he knew, from a terrestrial perspective at least.

A quote from a well-known basketball coach better captures the thought:

 “It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts.”

The goal of this site is to instruct.  But the goal of the site administrator is to learn.  Questions from those of you who stop by here will be used in that process.  Criticism from some of you may lead to “higher learning” for me.  The only thing I ask is that you consider the above quote before you pounce.