Don’t Be Jealous of Good Influence, Be Inspired By It

I’ve had times in my life where I see others who I want to have a good influence on are more inspired by others. It’s been hard for me to see that in the past, but last night I realized that it can really onl help me in addition to those the good influences. 

There’s a big caveat to this concept though, the influence needs to be good, when I see mediocre celebrities or terrible news stations, I get frustrated by the influence they have, this is the kind of influence that I wish I could replace. It’s hard to see people get obsessed and to look up to “influencers” who do no good for them and sometimes even point them in the wrong direction. I would love to someday replace the people whose influence I see as negative to others unless God has someone else who’s a better fit for the role in His plan. It’s something I will be praying for now, and if you’re reading this I would encourage you to do the same. Pray that God would point people to the right kind of encouragement and inspiration. To God be the glory, whoever he puts in places of power and influence. 

What inspired the idea in the title was seeing some of the good youth leaders that I work with at my church’s youth group, sometimes its hard for me to see the students get along so well with the others, but then I remind myself that they’re talking to the ones that I look up to as well, and I realize I can only add to the good they do. That and I can improve my influence by watching them and learning from what they do. All with the goal of being more helpful to our students. 

Good influences inspire us and change us for the better. Bad influence leaves us feeling worse, and were usually worse off for learning from them. That is to say, always think like you influence someone, chances are you probably do, and you’ll probably both be better off for it.