Unintended Consequences
Do you ever realize you’ve said something you had no intention of saying? I’ve put my foot in my mouth more times than I can keep track of. I’ve introduced myself to people who I should’ve known and felt like an idiot. I’ve found myself accidentally blurting out the standard, “How are you?” to someone who has just lost a loved one. However, there are also times when you open your mouth and the Lord uses you to say something that needs to be said.When I recently taught on courage, I had many things that I’d planned to say. Through King Asa’s journey in 2 Chronicles, I showed how women must use the courage the Holy Spirit has given us to:
- put away our idols;
- rebuild the altar;
- gather those we influence.
In recent posts, I’ve elaborated on these. When it came to teaching on “gathering those we influence,” however, I made an unplanned application. It’s an application that requires courage to honestly evaluate. In the privacy that a blog provides, I pray that you would seriously consider:
What kind of influence are you?
It’s unfortunate that many Christians don’t encourage their Christian friends to become more like Christ. I frequently see a woman who’s growing in her walk. She finds some Christian friends and, over time, the community snuffs out her fire. Her desire to be used by God is forgotten. Play groups, exercise classes, and girls’ nights out become the means to an end rather than a place where we inspire each other to be available to Christ. The enemy has allowed God’s people to do his work for him.If that were not enough, I recently sat among a group of women and heard that for one, her five-year battle with alcoholism began when her and some friends from Sunday school were playing cards. Someone decided to drink. She decided that if her Christian friends were drinking, then why shouldn’t she? The path that started that day almost destroyed her, her marriage, and her children. My heart broke.What many of us have never realized, or we quickly forget, is that the gathering of God’s people should be the one place that’s safe for everyone. It should be the one place where peer pressure, cliques, and gossip are left behind and everyone can be herself. We should provide a safe place that’s free from the temptations that this world constantly throws at us… not just for believers, but for unbelieving friends, too, who desperately need us to be different… but I digress.The point is not whether you should drink or not. The point is that, as someone who follows Christ, you need to have an acute understanding that your actions speak volumes. Your silence when those choices are being made in your midst also speaks volumes. We must love the body of Christ enough to always consider the weaker member. We never know the vulnerabilities of those who are with us, or the unintended consequences our actions may have.Do you live one way on Sunday and another way Monday through Saturday? For the sake of the bride of Christ, I challenge you to gather those you influence. Like the people of Judah, would you make a pact to follow the Lord with all your heart and soul, to no longer risk causing someone to stumble, and to inspire those you influence to allow God to use them beyond their expectations? twitter | facebook