You Are What You Eat
You are what you eat is definitely a true statement in terms of fitness. When you eat junk, you feel sluggish, lack energy, gain those extra pounds, and maybe even see the evidence in your face (like mine) how you haven’t been eating right. However, when we eat good nutrient-dense foods, add some exercise into our daily activities and focus on taking care of ourselves, it’s amazing how much better we feel and perform. The same concept can be applied to our relationships.
It’s a well-taught fact that you become the sum of the people that you surround yourself with and are the closest to. Most motivational speakers teach that if you want to be successful, you should surround yourself with people who are successful in that area. Not because their success will just land on you or that they can offer favors, but because you will start to mimic their behaviors and habits that made them successful in the first place. So isn’t it equally important when building our relationship with Christ to surround ourselves with people that will not only motivate us but to challenge and push us toward Him instead of people that challenge our beliefs and pull us away?
The righteous is a guide to his neighbor, But the way of the wicked leads them astray. (Proverbs 12:26)
Take a moment right now and think of a time where you and some friends or family went out to eat and the waiter had a negative attitude. Do you remember how it affected you? It doesn’t even have to be at a restaurant….just a time where you were forced to interact with someone else’s negativity. Do you remember how that made you feel? It rubs off a little, doesn’t it? You get frustrated because of their attitude and it’s hard to see anything good they did. So you complain…and maybe things escalate from there. So if someone’s attitude in only a few minutes can rub off or affect us like it does, how can we be so naive to think our friendships don’t make that much of an impact on our beliefs, our attitude, and our decisions?
I often hear people make excuses about a certain relationship on how they are trying to be a light or a good influence to that person. And that’s great. But the problem is that we are the ones often dragged down and influenced instead of us doing the influencing. This world needs Jesus and needs for us to represent Jesus so badly, but the world can’t be your best friend.
When Jesus walked the earth and was ministering to the people, he interacted, taught and conversed with sinners who didn’t know him to be the Son of God. Yet those people were not his best friends. He had twelve close disciples with whom He shared His day-to-day life. Jesus was deliberate in the people He chose as close friends. And if the Son of God, who is stronger than the world and all of Satan’s plans, was deliberate in that decision, shouldn’t we be as well?
Today’s Challenge: Make a list of your closest friends. For each friend, write down what you talk about while you’re together. Then, write down how you feel after you’ve spent some time with them. Finally, for each one, consider how they see you in relation to Christ – not how you see them, but how they see you. Do they see Jesus in you? Continue looking over this list by comparing the feelings you have after spending time together with the attitude that you know you should have in Christ. Pray over this list. Do you think some changes should be made?
Tomorrow, we continue looking at the value of and the impact of relationships on our walk with Christ.
Forty Days of Faithful 
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