What kind of impact do our attitudes, actions and decisions have on others?
I was recently reading the story of the children of Israel while they were slaves in Egypt. Pharaoh kept refusing Moses’ request to let them leave Egypt. Finally God released the last plague upon the Egyptians, the death of their firstborn sons and livestock.
Pharaoh’s bad decisions affected his family, and it also affected all the people of Egypt. His stubbornness brought problems, pain, devastation and death to many others. People lost their children, grandchildren, loved ones, and livestock because one man had a hard heart and disobeyed God.
We see examples of this principle throughout Scripture, starting in the book of Genesis with Adam and Eve and continuing into the New Testament and the early church. Any time leaders, workers, parents, husbands, wives and young people make poor decisions or respond with the wrong attitudes and actions, there is a negative impact on the people around them. It might be a hard heart like Pharaoh, a resistant or rebellious spirit, gossip, anger, complaining, or a variety of other things, but the end result is problems and pain, devastation and death for others.
I tried an experiment the other day to see what kind of impact I could silently have on another person’s attitudes and behavior. I was standing in line at a store waiting to checkout. There was a little girl in the shopping cart in front of me with her grandpa. He was busy dealing with the clerk and during this time the little girl kept staring at me with the ugliest scowl on her face! I don’t know what was going on in her life, but she wasn’t happy. I decided I would continue to smile at her to see if I could help her with her bad mood.
It became one of those battles to see who could last the longest -- her and her scowl or me and my smile! I could feel myself wanting to turn away as I kept looking at her. I had to struggle to keep smiling. Her scowl was having a negative impact on me! But I was determined to keep smiling at her. Finally she turned her head from me and later looked back at me with a slight improvement in her countenance. Whew!
Here is a good lesson to remember. We all have an impact on those around us. Many times the negative attitudes and actions overrule the positive ones. I want to live my life in a way that honors God in all I do. In the decisions I make, the actions I take and the attitudes of my heart, I want to be very careful to avoid bringing problems and pain, devastation and death to those around me.
May God help all of us to live in a way that produces a positive impact on others!
Terry
