by Jerry Senn
Jim Rohn once wrote: “You’re the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.” If this is even partially true, consider these questions.
- Are those people you associate with most positive-minded, encouraging, and supportive?
- Do they energize you and inspire you to be your best?
- Do they share similar values and goals?
- Do they listen to you and empathize with you?
- Are they for you through thick and thin?
- Do they give you a genuine pat on the back for your accomplishments?
- Do they provide healthy accountability and help raise awareness to self-sabotaging tendencies?
All seven questions help us evaluate the positive influence of those around us. But the seventh question is no doubt most often lacking in our relationships. Yet, it suggests the sort of company we need the most in living for Christ. Or course, it requires a great deal of trust and humility.
We all need to be aware of both the dangers and the benefits of the influencers in our lives. Even our Lord needed a positive “inner circle” who stood with him. Of course, they often let him down.
On the negative side of this matter, remember Paul’s words:
“Bad company ruins good morals.”
—1 Corinthians 15:33
(Some of the above is adapted: “The Power of Positivity, online).