Our Five Scopes of Influence
There’s a famous saying that we are the average of the five people we spend the most amount of time with. Nowadays, it seems that it is not only the five friends that determine our identity, but also the five major influences we have on our brain. It may be the five podcasts we listen to, the five social media posts we follow or the five TV shows we watch the most. The media and content we consume may have just as much effect as the people we spend time with.
Whatever goes inside of us stays with us. Every negative, violent, or explicit piece of information adds up, just like bad friends influence us the more we spend time with them. But the same remains true for the opposite — when you read scripture and meditate on it, you remember it throughout the day. When you hear an incredible story, it inspires you. When you listen to something with a strong, positive message, it fills your brain with optimism.
We must be careful what we let fill our hearts and minds. Proverbs 4:23 says, “above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” We can’t control everything, but we can control much more of it than we realize. And we can control how long we dwell on something when it does enter our brains. If we control what influences enter us, we begin the process of controlling what we think altogether. And if we control what we think, we control what we want to do, what becomes a habit, and what creates a life of faithfulness. Pay attention to the five scopes of influence in your life and you’ll find that whatever you choose to influence you helps shape who you are.
