Have you heard about the Queen of Sheba?  She is pretty famous in ancient secular history so its interesting that she also shows up in Biblical history.  In 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, God tells us about the Queen of Sheba’s visit with King Solomon.

King Solomon’s reputation as the wisest man on earth had spread over the known world so the Queen of Sheba came across the desert with her huge entourage to test him. (I can’t imagine what this journey was like)

She asked Solomon all of the questions she could think of and he answered them all.  Then she said, ” How happy your people must be!  What a privilege for your officials to stand here day after day listening to your wisdom.”

How happy!

This makes me think about how happy I am when I’m around people who care about honesty, good character, loving God and loving others.  Being positively influenced and encouraged by them feels good.  It’s a privilege to be around people who stand for doing what’s right and use God’s word as the one true compass in their lives.

How happy!

I am reminded of one of my ‘mom lectures’ to my son and daughter as they were growing up in this confused and crazy culture we live in.  I told them (several times) that peer pressure is not always a bad thing.  There is such a thing as positive peer pressure – encouraging and challenging those around us to be better, to do what is right and focus on making our world a better place.  That’s the kind of peer pressure I expected them to have on the kids around them.

That’s the kind of peer pressure God expects me to have on the people around me.

We all have influence on the people we touch in our world.

Is it good?  Positive?  Based on God’s truth?  Helpful?

Or not?

It’s our choice.

Please help me have a positive influence on the people in my world, Abba Father.