This week I spoke to middle school and high school about King Josiah. He took over a the kingdom of Judah when he was eight years old and was able to change the nation from a nation that followed idols to a nation that only served God. This was a dramatic change for the kingdom of Judah which had been following idols and practicing wicked forms of idol worship for around sixty years. Josiah began to serve God and get rid of these idols. Under his influence the nation began to follow God once again. In a similar way, we can influence other people in our lives. We may never rule a nation, but we will have people that we can influence. We can help these people to see that worshipping God above all else is what they need to do. Most of the people that we will have influence with will probably not be worshipping idols like the people of Josiah's day, but they might be putting things like friends, family, fun, or comfort ahead of God. We need to show them that God is the one that they should put ahead of everything else, and that the reason that we care about these other things is because of our concern for God. Our entire focus should be on serving God.
- Jason
