Guilty By Association

You’ll have to bear with me today because I have a few stories to start out with, but in the end, hopefully the long road around will lead me back to the point I’m trying to make.

I have been listening to Steven Furtick sermons on the way to and from work for a few weeks now.  In his sermons he will say something like, “Touch 5 people next to you and tell them you are in the middle,” or “You are in the soil,” or whatever the topic is he is currently talking about.  Now this morning, like every morning, I said a quick prayer thanking God for the blessing of waking up for another day.  This is what I said this morning, “God, thank you for the blessing of waking up today, now reach and touch someone next to you and say I am blessed.”  Really….word for word.  I kinda stopped, but it seemed like something natural to say after listening to Pastor Furtick for as long as I have now.

Then I went to work, as I got closer, I started feeling anxious….not in a bad way.  I just felt as if something big was about to happen, or God was moving me towards something.  The first thing I did when I got there was text my wife and my mentor asking for them to pray for me.  They both responded back that they would. (By the way, a few minutes later I did feel a peace…..that’s the power of prayer.  Maybe I’ll write about that topic someday.)

Now I tell these quick little stories to get to my point.  With my prayer example, I have listened to the sermons so much it just came natural to say something like that.  And with my other situation, it just came natural to reach out to my close associations for a little help.  What you listen to, what you read, the people you hang out with have a major influence on your life.  They say that you are the average of the 5 closest people you hang out with and I am convinced now, more than ever that is true.

You may say, “Oh that’s not true.”  Well then tell me this…..Then why, those of you with children, do you watch for the “bad” kid at school to steer your child clear of?  You don’t want their bad habits to rub off on them.  Why do you steer clear of that person at work who is always complaining about something?

Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not telling you to go out and clear your life of everyone.  I’m not telling you to go delete all your friends on Facebook.  But this is what I have come to discover.  In the past year, if I see something I don’t like on Facebook, I block it.  And I’m not doing it in a judgmental way……but I have learned that I, through God, am in control of my own happiness.  Those people don’t pay my bills.  Those people don’t take raise my children.  So why am I going to allow those people to negatively influence my life?  We only get one life…..one life to be happy, one life to influence others.

This message may be hard to read, and it may anger some of you…….that truly is not the outcome I had in mind when this topic showed up in my heart.  But over the last year, I have done a true inventory of the people in my life that I associate with, and want to spend my time around.  I have found so many new friends.  So many positive friends.  We all look to encourage each other on a daily basis, not tear each other down.  I’m always on the lookout for someone I can help everyday.  Someone who may need a bit of encouragement because of something they are going through.  This time last year I would never have done that.

So take a look at your life….is there someone who constantly brings you down?  It doesn’t mean you can’t be their friend anymore…just that you may want to spend a little more of your time with someone else.  Sometimes those people can be your family…….and its really hard to separate yourselves from them.  But I go back to my previous point, you are in control of your happiness, not someone else.

But here is the real question…..a question I am beginning to ask myself every day……am I in other people’s group of 5?  Am I someone who others think brings positivity into their lives?  Because like our group of 5….others are trying to bring their average up as well.

So what traits in your life are you trying to exemplify to ultimately join in someone else’s top 5?  Paul said to the Colossians, “Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.  The things you have heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace be with you (Colossians I 4:8).”

So if anyone were ever to be asked why they were so happy all of the time….why they were so positive….why they were so loving and helpful to other people, I would hope they would bring up my name and say it was because they were guilty by association.

I pray that we all find those positive people we need in our lives, and I pray that, most importantly, we are the positive people who others need in their lives.