Influenced or Influencer | 被他人影响或影响他人

Influenced or Influencer
被他人影响或影响他人

This article is a part of a series called “Spiritual Waimai Voices” where we welcome our friends to share some spiritual food with us with us in their own voice. This Spiritual Waimai was written and recorded by our friend Max.

本文是《属灵外卖之声》系列文章之一，该系列里我们欢迎朋友们用自己的声音来分享灵粮。这篇属灵外卖的写作来自我们的朋友Max。

At the end of last year when I was going through my work evaluation, one of my brothers in Christ who worked with me told me that he had seen some changes in me. Changes that were not for the best. He noticed that the way I was speaking with others was often not reflecting the love of Jesus. This made me think about the influence I had allowed other coworkers who were not Christians to have over me.

去年年底，当我进行工作评估时，和我一起工作的一个主内弟兄告诉我，他看到了我身上的一些变化。那是对我不利的变化。他注意到我和别人说话的方式常常没有映射出耶稣的爱。这让我想到，我允许其他非基督徒同事对我产生了影响。

When we spend time with people, it is very common to begin acting in similar ways. This is why it is often common for parents to be concerned with who their children spend time with. At our small fellowship meeting, two Christian brothers who were about to have children shared with us their concerns about what they would do when their kids reached school age as they did not want them to be negatively influenced and drawn away from Christ by the other children around them.

当我们和别人在一起的时候，开始表现出相似的行为是很正常的。这就是为什么父母经常关心自己的孩子和谁在一起。在我们的小型团契聚会上, 两位即将有孩子的弟兄和我们分享了他们的担忧,他们担心自己的孩子到了上学的年龄时，他们会做什么,因为他们不希望自己的小孩受到负面的影响或者被周围的其他孩子吸引而远离基督。

Who you spend time with is who you will eventually become. If you take someone out of their own culture and place them in a different culture, it is very common for that person to start to talk differently and act differently to follow their new culture.

你花时间和谁在一起，你最终会成为那个人。如果你把一个人从他们自己的文化中带出来，并且把他们放在一个不同的文化中，那么这个人开始以不同的方式说话，以不同的方式行动来遵循他们的新文化是很常见的。

In the workplace or social settings, sometimes we consciously try and make changes to ourselves so that we become more acceptable to the group we are in. Everyone wants to fit in and feel like they belong, but God does not call us to fit in. He calls for us to stand out.

在工作场所或社交场合，有时我们会有意识地尝试改变自己，以便更容易被我们所在的群体所接受。每个人都想融入并让自己有归属感，但上帝并没有呼召我们去融入。 祂呼吁我们要分别出来。

In second Corinthians 6:17-18 it says, “Therefore come out from among them and be separate says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean and I will receive you. I will be a father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

哥林多后书6:17-18 “你们务要从他们中间出来，与他们分别；不要沾不洁净的物，我就收纳你们。我要作你们的父，你们要作我的儿女。这是全能的主说的。”

God calls for us to be separate but what does that mean in our daily lives? What does this call mean for the words you use or the jokes you tell? How does this impact your response when someone in your group makes a lustful comment about another person? Are you finding yourself caught up in the race to always have the latest and greatest gadget, toy or clothing? How do you treat people in lower positions than you? Often engaging in these negative behaviors help us to bond with the world and fit in, so what happens if we stop doing these things and become separate?

神呼召我们要分别出来，但这对我们的日常生活意味着什么？这个呼召对你使用的词汇或你讲的笑话意味着什么？当你小组中的某个人对另一个人发表淫秽评论时，这会如何影响你的反应？ 你是否发现自己陷入了总是想要拥有最新最好的小玩意、玩具或衣服的竞赛中？ 你如何对待地位比你低的人？ 经常参与这些消极行为有助于我们与世界建立联系并融入其中，那么如果我们停止做这些事情并从中分离出来会怎样呢？

In John 15:18-19 it says, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

在约翰福音 15:18-19中讲到，“世人若恨你们，你们知道，恨你们以先已经恨我了。你们若属世界，世界必爱属自己的；只因你们不属世界，乃是我从世界中拣选了你们，所以世界就恨你们。”

As individuals, do we want to please people around us and fit in or do we want to please our Heavenly Father? I’ve often heard stories from Christian brothers and sisters about how people always knew there was something different about them and maybe even asked if they were a Christian. As a Christian it can be devastating to hear the words, “Oh you are a Christian? I had no idea.” That can be a sign that they see you as no different from everyone else around them.

作为个人，我们是想要取悦周围的人并融入其中，还是想要取悦我们的天父? 我经常从主内的兄弟姊妹那里听到一些故事，说人们总是知道他们有些不同，甚至可能会问他们是否是基督徒。作为一名基督徒，听到下面这样的话可能是毁灭性的，“哦，你是基督徒吗？ 我根本不知道。” 这可能表明他们认为你与周围的其他人没有什么不同。

The Bible shows us what happens when we follow the world in the life of Solomon.

圣经向我们展示了当我们在生活中像所罗门一样跟随世界时，会发生什么。

When God came to Solomon in a dream in 1 Kings 3:9, Solomon asked God to give him an understanding heart to judge God’s people and to discern between good and evil. Because this request was pleasing to God, it was granted. And Solomon was the wisest man in all the land. He was richly blessed by God and was trusted to build Gods temple. Unfortunately, he allowed himself to be influenced by the world. What was the beginning of Solomon’s downfall?

在列王记上3:9中，当神在梦中临到所罗门面前时，所罗门请求神赐给他一颗理解的心，以判断神的子民，能分辨善恶。因为这个请求是上帝所喜悦的，就被应允了。所罗门是天下最有智慧的人。他得到了上帝的祝福，并被委托建造上帝的圣殿。不幸的是，他任由自己受世界的影响。所罗门垮台的开始是什么?

“But King Solomon loved many foreign women as well as the daughter of Pharaoh. Women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites- from the nations of whom the Lord had said to the children of Israel “You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. Surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods. Solomon clung to these in love.”
1 Kings 11:1-2

所罗门王在法老的女儿之外，又宠爱许多外邦女子，就是摩押女子、亚扪女子、以东女子、西顿女子、赫人女子。论到这些国的人，耶和华曾晓瑜以色列人说：“你们不可与她们往来相通，因为她们必诱惑你们的心去随从她们的神”所罗门却恋爱这些女子。列王纪上11:1-2

Solomon had the wisdom to know that God forbade him from marrying women of these cultures for a reason, but he still didn’t follow what God said. It is so common for us as Christians to pray for wisdom, but often a lack of wisdom isn’t the problem. We know what is right and wrong. Most of the time when dealing with sin the problem is a lack of willpower to choose right over wrong.

所罗门有智慧，他知道上帝禁止他与这些文化背景的女人结婚是有原因的，但他仍然没有遵循神的话。作为基督徒，我们祈求智慧是很平常的事，但缺乏智慧并不是问题所在。我们知道什么是对什么是错。大多数时候，当我们处理罪恶的时候，问题在于缺乏意志力去做出正确的选择。

If we keep reading, we can see the result of what happened when Solomon disobeyed God and surrounded himself with people who didn’t believe in his God.

如果我们继续读下去，就会看到当所罗门悖逆上帝，周围都是不信上帝的人时，结局会如何。

“And he had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines: and his wives turned away his heart. For it was so when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord and did not fully follow the Lord as did his father David. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of Jerusalem, and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon. And he did likewise for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods. So the Lord became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the Lord God of Israel who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what the Lord had commanded.”
1 Kings 11:3-10

“所罗门有妃七百，都是公主；还有嫔三百。这些妃嫔诱惑他的心。所罗门年老的时候，他的妃嫔诱惑他的心去随从别神，不效法他父亲大卫诚诚实实地顺服耶和华他的神。因为所罗门随从西顿人的女神亚斯她录和亚扪人可憎的神米勒公。所罗门行耶和华眼中看为恶的事，不效法他父亲大卫专心顺从耶和华。所罗门为摩押可憎的神基抹和亚扪人可憎的神摩洛，在耶路撒冷对面的山上建筑邱坛。他为那些向自己的神烧香献祭的外邦女子，就是他娶来的妃嫔也是这样行。耶和华向所罗门发怒，因为他的心偏离向他两次显现的耶和华—以色列的神。耶和华曾吩咐他不可随从别神，他却没有遵守耶和华所吩咐的。”列王纪上 11:3-10

Solomon surrounded himself with 1,000 wives and concubines. 700 of which he was married to. This is a large group of people who did not share his God, and therefore as we saw, they slowly pulled his heart from God. Part of the worship of these pagan gods included child sacrifice, sexual immorality, prostitution, divination and fortune telling. All of these things go against God’s character and were forbidden by God.

所罗门周围有一千个妻妾。他娶了700个妻子。这一大群人都不相信神，正如我们所见，她们慢慢地将他的心从神那里抽离。这些外邦人对假神的敬拜包括了儿童祭祀、淫乱、卖淫、占卜和算命。这些都是违背神性情的，都是神所禁止的。

We are human and on our own we are weak. I don’t have the strength to fight my battles by myself. Sin is often enjoyable and tempting.

我们是人，凭我们自已实在太过软弱。我没有力量独自战斗。罪通常是令人愉快和诱人的。

“But each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full grown, gives birth to death.”
James 1:14-15

“但各人被试探，乃是被自己的私欲牵引诱惑的。私欲既怀了胎，就生出罪来，罪既长成，就生出死来。”雅各书 1:14-15

This is why for me it is so important that the people closest to me are my brothers and sisters in Christ and why I value them so much. They talk with me, lift me up and understand my struggles and pain. They also hold me accountable to do what is right according to God’s way. I am blessed that the people closest to me are a good influence and draw me closer to our Father.

这就是为什么对我来说，与我最亲近的人是我在基督里的兄弟姊妹，这事如此的重要，也是为什么我如此重视他们的原因。他们和我交谈，让我振作起来，理解我的挣扎和痛苦。他们也责成我按神的道行正直的事。我很蒙福，与我最亲密的人给我带来好的影响，并且驱使我与天父的关系更加亲密。

So why should we surround ourselves with good influences and what happens when we do?

那么为什么我们要让自己置身于好的影响之中呢?当我们这样做时会发生什么呢?

“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another- and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Hebrews 10:24-25

“又要彼此相顾，激发爱心，勉励行善。你们不可停止聚会，好像那些停止惯了的人，倒要彼此劝勉，既知道那日子临近，就更当如此。”希伯来书 10:24-25

We are not alone. We are a part of a Christian family. We lift each other up. Many of our brothers and sisters have gone through lots of pain, hardship and loss but we have held on as a family, encouraging each other and are making sure people haven’t felt alone. But sometimes the good influence of a friend can sting a little.

我们并不孤单。我们是基督徒家庭的一份子。我们互相扶持。我们当中的许多兄弟姊妹都经历了很多痛苦、艰辛和失去，但我们像个大家庭一样坚持了下去，互相鼓励，并确保大家都不会感到孤单。但有时来自朋友的好影响可能会有点刺痛。

“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”
Proverbs 27:17

“铁磨铁，磨出刃来；朋友相感也是如此。”箴言 27:17

When sharpening a sword, very fine parts of the metal are being ground away to create the sharp and useful edge. If metal had feelings, this process would hurt.

磨剑时，金属非常精细的部分会被磨掉，以形成锋利而有用的刀刃。如果金属有感觉，这个过程会很痛。

Recently at work, there was a dark cloud over many of my colleagues. We were exhausted and didn’t want to be at work. I was very attracted to the staff who were complaining and happily joined in with the complaints. It was only when a brother who is a colleague came to me and talked about how we chose to do this job and that he had apologized to God for his grumbling that I started to see things differently. I didn’t want to hear it and it stung but in that moment, I was being sharpened. I was being influenced positively.

最近在工作中，我的许多同事都被阴云笼罩着。我们累坏了，不想去工作。我被那些抱怨的员工所吸引，并且很高兴地和他们一起抱怨。直到一个弟兄也是我的同事来找我，谈论我们是如何选择做这份工作的，并且他已经为自己的抱怨向上帝道歉，我才开始有了不同的看法。我不想听它，它刺痛了我，但就在那一刻，我被磨尖了。我受到了正面的影响。

Some of this may sound as though I am saying that as Christians, we should only hang out with other Christians or bad things will happen, but that is not the case and it is not biblical.

这听起来好像我是在说，作为基督徒，我们应该只和其他基督徒一起玩，否则坏事就会发生，但事实并非如此，与圣经也不相符。

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden Neither do people light a lamp and hide it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your father in heaven.”
Matthew 5:14-16

“你们是世上的光。城造在山上是不能隐藏的。人点灯，不放在斗底下，是放在灯台上，就照亮一家的人。你们的光也当这样照在人前，叫他们看见你们的好行为，便将荣耀归给你们在天上的父。”马太福音5:14-16

We have been given the good news of the Gospel and have been commissioned by Christ to tell the world about him, but it is important that when we try and reach the world, we don’t become one with the world. Sometimes not allowing yourself to be negatively influenced doesn’t mean removing yourself from people’s lives. Sometimes it just means removing yourself from certain situations with others or being aware of an influence people have so that you can resist it. And so I ask you this question:

我们已经得到福音的好消息，并受基督的委托向世界传讲衪的道，但重要的是，当我们试图接触世界时，我们不能世界融为一体。有时候不让自己受到负面影响并不意味着将自己从人们的生活中移除。有时候，这仅仅意味着在某些情况下你要避开他人，或者意识到他人对你的影响，这样你就可以抵抗它。所以我要问你这个问题:

Who are you allowing to be an influence on you and who are you influencing?

你允许谁来影响你，你又在影响着谁?