I can’t count how many times I have gotten a catchy tune stuck in my head.  I am notorious for humming it over and over again until, of course, it eventually blurts out of my mouth at some inopportune time.  One of the worst is that crazy song “Who let the dogs out…”

The truth is that I am easily influenced.  As a little girl, I was so influenced when programs like the Ice Capades came on TV that I was dancing around the house pretending to be a professional ice skater on the carpet as soon as it was over.

I still don’t completely understand why I am so easily influenced; I just know that it happens frequently.  I find this same influence is true as I preach the gospel to myself daily.  It is the influence of the gospel that allows me to truly consider the grace of God towards me.  This grace is so full of blessings that it reminds me that I have been predestined by God to be conformed to the likeness of His Son (Romans 8:29).

It is only in the influence of the gospel that such a promise can ever begin to take root in my wicked heart, just like it is only in the influence of the gospel that I am able to love the unlovable and consider others more important than myself. Truly, it is only by the influence of the gospel that my flesh dies and my heart melts to follow after my Jesus.  So if I might ask, what is influencing you?