What Is Shaping Your Heart? The Power of Spiritual Influences

One of the themes we've been discussing in our spiritual formation study is the power of influence. Not just the obvious influences, but most importantly, the subtle ones. The ones we rarely stop to think about because of our worldly desensitization.  

Most Christians understand that obvious sin can influence us. We know that what we watch, listen to, and participate in can affect our spiritual lives. What we often miss is that not everything that shapes us is obviously sinful. Sometimes it's marketed as entertainment. A lot of the time it's our social media feed.  

Sometimes it's a temporary attitude inside of us that develops into a permanent personality trait: 

• constant outrage 

• endless comparison 

• negativity 

• fear 

  
  

Sometimes it's simply being too busy to pay attention to what is happening inside us because of these external influences. 

The reality is that very few of us wake up one day and intentionally decide to drift away from God. More often, it happens slowly through the influences we repeatedly allow into our lives. What we watch, listen to, think about, and dwell on day after day gradually shapes the condition of our hearts. If we want to understand who we are becoming, we have to be willing to examine what is shaping us. 

So, the question becomes: 

What am I feeding my mind every day? 

We Become What We Consume 

Not instantly or dramatically, but gradually we take on the characteristics of what we consume. The things we repeatedly expose ourselves to begin shaping us over time. They influence:

• Our thoughts. 

• Our emotions. 

• Our priorities. 

• Our reactions. 

  
  

The process is often so subtle that we don't even notice it happening. 

Just as healthy food nourishes our bodies, what we consistently consume through our eyes, ears, and minds nourishes or weakens our spiritual lives. We become what we repeatedly allow into our hearts. 

This principle isn't new. Paul warned the Corinthian church about the power of influence when he wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:32-33:  

32 “If from human motives I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what good is it to me? If the dead are not raised, LET’S EAT AND DRINK, FOR TOMORROW WE DIE. 33 Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good morals.” 

Defilement Isn't Always Obvious 

When most people hear the word defilement, they think of obvious things. 

• Immoral content. 

• Profanity. 

• Blatant evil. 

Those things certainly affect us, but Jesus repeatedly taught that what enters the heart matters. The most dangerous influences shaping us aren't openly sinful. Sometimes they are simply unhealthy. 

• A constant diet of anger 

• A constant diet of division 

• A constant diet of gossip 

• A constant diet of fear 

• A constant diet of comparison 

None of these things may seem particularly dangerous in isolation, but over time they distort the way we view God, ourselves, other people, and our world. The heart rarely drifts all at once. It drifts gradually. 

The Enemy Doesn't Need Blatant Sin 

One thought that has challenged me recently is that the enemy doesn't always need us to embrace sin to pull us away from God. Sometimes distraction is enough. Exhaustion is enough. Endless noise is enough. Keeping us spiritually numb is enough. 

If we are constantly distracted, constantly entertained, constantly scrolling, constantly consuming, we may never create enough space to recognize what God is trying to do within us. 

The enemy doesn't need us to run from God. One of his best tactics is simply giving us an opportunity to stop paying attention. 

Ask Better Questions About Spiritual Influences in Your Life

When evaluating the influences in our lives, perhaps the question isn't always: 

"Is this a sin?" 

Sometimes a better question is: 

• Is this helping me love God more? 

• Is this producing peace? 

• Is this drawing me closer to Christ? 

• Is this helping me become who God created me to be? 

Those are discernment questions. 

They move us beyond simply asking what is allowed and help us begin asking what is beneficial, because not everything that is permissible is helpful, and not everything that captures our attention deserves it. 

Pay Attention 

This isn't an invitation to throw everything away. It's not a call to fear the world around us. It's simply an invitation to pay attention. Take notice of what is shaping you, examine the influences you have allowed into your life, and be intentional about what you consume. 

God may be inviting us to look honestly at the things that occupy our minds and hearts so we can choose influences that draw us closer to Him. Because, whether we realize it or not, want it or not, something is always shaping us. 

The question is whether it is leading us closer to Christ or pulling us further away from the person He is calling us to become. Of equal importance: what are we doing to stop it? 

Paul very simply outlines the rule of thumb process to counter the influences of the world in Philippians 4:8: 

“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” 

Spiritual formation isn't only about removing unhealthy influences. It's also about intentionally filling our lives with godly ones. Time in Scripture. Prayer. Worship. Christian community. Healthy conversations. The goal isn't simply to consume less noise. It's to create more room for God's voice. 

My Prayer 

Father, show me my heart. Show me the ways I continue to be influenced in ways you don’t like. In the ways that cause me to drift away from you. Protect me from what I cannot see. I am ignorant of all the subtle insidious influences that are secretly woven into my world. Please open my eyes to it and give me the strength to correct my steps. You know my failings. Help me in those areas.  

Lord, for the reader, go alongside them and comfort them in the intimate ways only you know. Open their eyes too, to be able to recognize the difference between good influences and bad, in the subtle contexts of their own world. Give them courage and faith to choose well. The glory of our testimonies belongs to you alone. Amen.