By Dr. Dianne Coflin, Co-Pastor, River of Life Church
Today we have the term “influencers” used to describe people that gain popularity on social media because of their status in life, possibly an actor, singer, or politician. They believe their message should be heard. Oftentimes, these influencers have a tremendous following because people are intrigued with their ideas, stunts, or philosophy. Many times, their methods and messages are not fact checked, and they amass a following simply because they are popular.
We need to remind ourselves that just because someone is popular doesn’t mean their message is right, or wholesome, or one to be followed. Their popularity often captivates the heart of people and creates a platform for their opinions about many things that affect the character development or behavior of those that hear them. Thus, that is the definition of being influenced.
You may need to ask yourself, how is my life influenced? Do I follow people’s opinions because of popularity trends, simply because someone else does? Do I have a basic belief system, morally, backed with the word of God in my life that serves as a plumbline to filter whether an influencer is changing my heart for the good or for evil? These would be good questions to think about, and you may be surprised at your answers.
I am reminded of one of the greatest kings who ever lived. God had given him incredible wisdom and riches that were astounding, and he had been greatly blessed because of God’s love for him. His name was Solomon. Because God loved him, he was instructed to never mingle with the foreign women of the day, the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. Why, might you ask? Because God told him they would turn away his heart to serve their gods.
In other words, they would influence Solomon so deeply that he would turn from serving and loving the one true God that loved him and blessed him. Eventually Solomon did marry many women of these nations and soon after he began to serve the gods of his foreign wives. The word of God that had originally influenced his entire life and established his belief system was now compromised by their influence.
He served pagan gods who were temperamental, and unpredictable, to be appeased and not loved. The result of Solomon’s evil practices was the loss of his kingdom rule to an adversary. You would have thought that this man could not have been influenced wrongly, after all he had been given wisdom beyond his years as we read in I Kings. Nevertheless, he was.
How do you think he went astray? Certainly, it would behoove us to ask! We can simply go back to the plumbline of the word of God and see and understand what happened to him. In Mark 4:23-24 NLT Jesus was speaking:
“Then he added, Pay close attention to what you hear. The closer you listen, the more understanding you will be given —and you will receive even more. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them.”
Jesus’s warning was simply put, be careful what you listen to. The closer and more often you listen to something, the more you will be influenced. This principle works for good or evil. If you are listening to someone who is contrary to the word of God, and you keep on listening, you will be influenced to move off your belief system and you will eventually change your thinking and your behavior will follow. Wow, the wisest king in all the earth had his heart turned from serving the one true God who loved him so much to other foreign gods that he worshipped instead all because of a wrong influence.
I wonder how far we, as a nation, have moved away from our core value system? We are so easily influenced by popular people who serve to take our eyes off the Lord to value their opinions and beliefs that are so contrary to what we were originally taught. We certainly see the consequences in Solomon’s life. Our nation is full of compromise and adversaries surrounding us. I wonder if trying to be so woke and politically correct, we have tried to accept popular opinions of influencers that we now serve their opinions as our god instead of the One true and Living God that our nation was founded upon?
The one who gave His only begotten Son, Jesus, that whosoever believed in Him would never perish but would have eternal life. I want to ask you, who is influencing your life? Food for thought!
Dr. Dianne Coflin, Co-Pastor of River of Life Church, 410 East Chapman Rd., Lutz, Florida.
Our services begin at 10:30 Sunday morning and 7:00 Wednesday night. Childcare provided. We would love to meet you!