Who Are You?

"Now it happened, while Jesus was at table in Matthew's house, many tax collectors and other sinners joined Jesus and his disciples." - Matthew 9:10

A common saying is tell me who your friends are and I'll tell you who you are. I've never believed in that much but there is some truth to it. We tend to have similar behaviors, beliefs and interests as our friends. However, it does happen that a lot of times, we end up adopting the same behaviors, beliefs and interests as our friends if our friends are very influential people. If our friends are smart, outgoing, and love having fun in good way, then that's a great thing to look up to people like that. Unfortunately, in the majority of cases, the opposite occurs. We become friends with people that influence us in a bad way, and we end up falling into the same vices as other people. We lose our integrity, who we really are because we weren't strong enough in ourselves to hold firm to how we were raised and what we believe in.

Take a look at Jesus' life. He hung out with sinners. In this verse, He was having dinner with sinners. But instead of this being a bad thing because where Jesus could have fallen into their ways, He met with them, spent His time with them and they became tranformed for the better. Jesus spent time with Matthew, a tax collector who was seen as evil, and Matthew became a better person. Jesus spent time with Mary Magdalene, who was said to have 7 demons, and she came out a better person. In none of these cases did Jesus compromise who He was and what He believed in, instead, He did not waiver and served as the catalyst for a positive change in His friends.Today, think about who you are with your various groups of friends. Who are you most yourself around and who do you compromise your values and beliefs for? Realize that when you compromise your values to adapt yourself to someone else, you are wrong. Take Jesus as an example and be one, strong person around everyone you're with, or else, not even you know who you really are.

Today's Prayer:
My God, search my heart and show me if I am compromising myself around others. Help me to be true to myself and to You. Help me to influence others for good, instead of letting me be influenced by sin. In Your Name we pray, amen.