LET IT GO…
1. Face the fear
2. List your lies
3. The Faith Fight.
4. Lock yourself in his love
Face your fears- Don’t hide it.

1. Face the fear
2. List your lies
3. The Faith Fight.
4. Lock yourself in his love
Face your fears- Don’t hide it.
Have you ever walked into a stadium full of cheering fans? Or into a room full of chatter? Or into a restaurant where the customers are waiting for their orders to arrive? Or a bus that is running late and the passengers are getting impatient? We can all agree that there is a certain atmosphere in each of these settings. The anticipation, the wait, and the temperature in these settings reflect the social climate of the their gathering.
Most people that I’ve met are either of the two: a) they’ll either be an Influencer or b) the one being influenced.
Picture with me: A thermometer and a thermostat. One of these measures the temperature, and the other sets the temperature. It’s a very simple idea, but it can go as deep as you let it.
Most of us have difficulty crossing the line from Thermometers to Thermostats. What do I mean by this? We’re just reflecting the climate around us. In fact, nearly all of the seven billion people living on planet earth have been a Thermometer at some point in their lives. They say what others say, buy what others buy, wear what others wear, watch what others watch and do what others do. They don’t even give a thought to being a trendsetter or a pacesetter. They are just reflecting on what’s going on around them. Sometimes, they are not even thinking for themselves and are merely mimicking the culture, instead of creating it.
We’ve all heard the old adage:
“Everyone has influence.”
Every one of us has influence – whether you believe it or not. Sociologists will tell us that: The most introverted people will influence 10,000 others in their lifetime. Thermostat people are influencers. They set the climate or the temperature of their surrounding.
I believe, Jesus was a Thermostat. When the mob brought a woman accused of wrong and was at the verge of stoning her to death (John 8:1-11). Jesus sets the temperature like a thermostat. Jesus calmly set the tone and temperature and everyone walked away.
I believe that the people who decide on being a Thermostat are making two very important decisions.
1) They Decided to Live by a Set of Values
In other words, not reflecting what everyone else is doing around them, they don’t even care. But what they do care about is coming out with a set of standards.
It’s a set of core values that they are living by. They raise the bar for everyone else by living by those standards. What’s amazing to me is that companies have core values, teams have core values, so why not people?
Thermostat people live by a set of values.
But the second decision they make is…
2) They Add Value to Other People.
Through every interaction that they have, they’re always saying something or doing something that adds value to the people around them. Maybe it’s an encouraging word, maybe a gift, they’re offering help and assistance, going beyond the call of duty to add value to others. The other person walks away being glad to have met that thermostat personality.
What would happen if you choose to live by these two decisions?
Every one of us is a thermostat, we rub off on others whether we like it or not.
Leverage your influence for a cause greater than yourself. Identify yourself as an influencer. Don’t be a thermometer, be a thermostat instead.
Action Steps:
When Bruce Wayne lost his parents, he succumbed to loneliness- finding his space in solace. So much so, that he couldn’t even retain his only friend, Rachel (we all know Alfred was there for him no matter what). Now, the question is, what did Wayne really gain in these isolated times? He prepared himself, for the worst of situations, learned to face his past and come to terms with it. With every passing day, Batman was in the becoming. So, what is it that makes him stand out among the others? Response. What we see in him is his response to the criminal world: to make it a better place than what it was when the Wayne couple was murdered.
Heard someone recently say,
“You can’t control a situation, but you can control your response to it.”
We’re always stuck in a dilemma, trying to sort and work out predicaments in life that are beyond our reach. Honestly, how is it that we can respond to something that isn’t falling within our discretion?
Acceptance
In the book of Job, we see Job’s sufferings. He loses his wealth, family, all that he had ever acquired- or rather- was blessed with. But the moment his world starts to crumble, we don’t see him complain. His exacts words are, “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?“ (Job 2:10). To be able to experience disorder and still stand firm is not a trivial thing to do. It exhibits courage and resilience. Job even sings praises: “The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” (Job 1:21). So, we don’t just witness Job’s calamities but also his restoration in the due process of responding with acceptance: “The Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before” (Job 42:10).
Prayer
There is so much to see beyond a circumstance by seeking prayer. Hannah, Jacob, David, Jonah, Moses, I could go on and the list wouldn’t end too soon. Each one of them prayed. That was how they acknowledged their moments of crisis. Praying to question God ‘why’ is equally a response as praising God through prayer and looking forward to what greater things are awaiting.
Hope
Paul’s trials, as we read in the Scriptures, wasn’t anywhere close to comfortable or untroubled. He makes a comparison of his hardships with the glory to come with God. II Corinthians 4:17 states, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.” What he implies by these words is that the miserable times we undergo prepare our character, leading us to be full of hope and not despair. It is this very hope of glory that keeps Paul carrying forward the mission he was appointed for. Our response determines the intensity of our adversities and that’s where our superpower lies.
Victor E. Frank said, “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
Job’s wife suggested him with a response, that is, to “curse God and die,” but he chose a response that demonstrated his deep-rooted faith in God (Job 2:10). That is the growth we need, that’s the superpower we need to use. Let us have a response like that of Job- one full of hope and not just appealing words; one that challenges our faith and also strengthens it. We may not have control over our situations but we do have faith in God.