What affects your choices or decisions?

Who is next to you?

Allen:  One of my favorite scriptures is Romans 12:2 “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” This scripture plays an important role in our lives, maybe in a way that you have not thought of.  We have to make decisions everyday, but are the decisions we make influenced by the people around us…sure they are!  Now I want you to ask yourselves who are the people influencing the decisions you make?  Are they people that have renewed minds or are they people that are conformed to this world?  As Christians we should renew our minds with God’s word. But as humans we can be influenced by the people around us.  We have to realize God is doing everything He can to bring people into our lives, even as a really young person, to help teach you His ways so you will be prosperous and have a good life.  On the other hand the enemy, which controls the worldly way of thinking, wants to brainwash you into that worldly mindset. 

Clay: Allen is right! I wasn’t raised in a church going home. So the people I was around growing up influenced the way I looked at life. They influenced the way I acted and the decisions I made.  As I got older it got to a point where in my heart I new right from wrong and realized that the results I was getting in my life were not the results that I wanted.  It dawned on me that a large part of that was the influence of the environment I was raised in and the people I was associated with.  It’s not that they were bad people by any means; I just realized that I wanted a different result than what I was getting.  I realized I had to make some changes in these areas, to change my patterns and my way of thinking.  What is great is, now I have gone back and re-cultivated some of those relationships because I love those people!  I was just at a place in my life where I wasn’t strong enough spiritually to be around them.  I had to re-pattern myself and get reoriented so I could start producing the kind of life I wanted for myself.  I wanted to do things God’s way and wanted to reap the benefits and results that I knew God had for me!    

Allen:  Clay brings up my point exactly.  Think about young people, even as young as pre-school. Whether it is Grandmas, teachers, or babysitters, everyone that is involved in those children’s lives have an influence or impact on them. Now granted, most of what we do at that age is try to keep them safe, you know the… “Don’t touch that it will burn you or “Don’t go out in the road you will get hit by a car!” kind of thing.  As our children get older the people around them help and guide them to make decisions.  It might be a teacher, family members or most off all PARENTS.  In every aspect of a young person’s life they are either being conformed to the world’s ways or they are being renewed to God’s ways.  As they get older into middle school, peer pressure seems to be multiplied. The scary part is, during this time our children start making more decisions on their own.  Now all at once they are hearing about things they might have never been exposed to and can be influence by their peers.  It seems to me that about the time they get into High School most kids have created the basis for their foundation.  Most of them have gotten into their clicks and formed some sort of stereotype of where they belong.  What is amazing is this pattern continues even as adults!

Clay: Allen it is funny, because now I’m raising teenage daughters, so I find myself right in the middle of where the rubber meets the road again.  It is difficult sometimes because as parents you don’t want your children to have to go through the same things you went through.  Unfortunately, as Allen pointed out, it seems to be tougher on our children now days.  It seems that a lot of the teachers don’t seem to be what they used to be as far as moral standards are concerned. Peer pressure is tremendous. Then there is television, which occupies our children’s time and it doesn’t have the moral safe guards it used to have.  We try to limit the TV time at our house but some of the kids they go to school with have no limits at all. These kids are exposed and influenced a tremendous amount by what television has to offer. It’s hard because we are designed to have friendships and fellowship with one another so what one kid experiences, whether it is on TV or in life, is shared through acquaintances and friends at school.  It is a tricky situation!  For a young person to be able to make wise decisions and see those things out ahead of them takes a great deal of maturity!  I was at least 25 years old before I started looking at my life and what I was doing in a more mature way. For me it was when I started to have a family and more responsibility.  It forced me to look at things differently.  I started evaluating my surroundings and what I was doing!  My relationships and friends played a big part of that because it was a big part of my life. 

Allen:  I think you see the pattern here!  What I want to point out here is just like Clay, we are not all brought up in a Christian environment. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t be transformed by the renewing of our minds.  That is the beauty of the way God works.  God has a perfect plan but the great thing about God is when we don’t follow His perfect plan He always has a back up plan for when we mess up! At any point of this process we can change!  It comes down to the question… Do we have a teachable spirit?  Just like Clay did, we have to change our old ways and form new ways of thinking. It is the word of God that is going to do that.  The next step is the environment we surround ourselves with.  Sometimes the way we take that step is to make new friends and get into a good church.  When we get plugged into a good church then we have an unlimited amount of resources. Automatically you have a pastor that you can gain wisdom from through his teachings and sermons.  You also have people around that you and your children can connect with because you share that one common thing…God!