For today’s post I’m taking you back to a journal entry from last November when I began tossing the idea of this around in my head. I know I promised Esther but I moved her to tomorrow in order to deal with these two BIG questions. Influence is so Important and making our choices has a huge ripple effect that we are generally unaware of. We live in a world today where the common phrase is I “this is my________.” fill in the blank. we tend to be so self absorbed that we are blinded by the fact that ALL of our choices have consequences not just for us but for those around us.
Influence:What Is It?
well a quick visit to Dictionary.com tells us INFLUENCE is:
1. the capacity or power of persons or things to be a compelling force on or produce effects on the actions, behavior, opinions, etc., of others:
He used family influence to get the contract.
2.the action or process of producing effects on the actions, behavior, opinions, etc., of another or others:
Her mother’s influence made her stay.
3.a person or thing that exerts influence:
He is an influence for the good.
4. to exercise influence on; affect; sway:
to influence a person.
5.to move or impel (a person) to some action:
Outside factors influenced her to resign.
So Why Influence?
Well after last years study in my word for the year CONFIDWNCE (or God-fidence ) as I called it by the end of the year, I had come to realize these two concepts were closely related.You need God-fidence to radically influence others for Christ. You have to be solid on in who you are in Christ AND what He has called you to do. Does that mean you won’t struggle? Absolutely not! Because the reality go the matter is the, when you choose to be a Christian Influencer you get a big ole target on your back. we will see that over the next few days as we look at Esther.
I have a real desire for women to understand their influence and the power it has. When we make choices both in how we live and the words we speak it leaves a ripple effect and that ripple effect can cause positive or negative things to happen in other peoples lives….even people we may not see or know.
Introducing “Marie”
So to illustrate the very basic idea we are going to talk about my friend ….For the purposes of this blog post I am going to call her Marie.
Marie is the center director for our local pregnancy center. I love watching her work. She connects with our clients on an amazing level. They are within her circle of influence.
Marie has a choice as to the type of influence she is going to be on client A. I already said that Marie is amazing with the clients BUT what if she wasn’t. What would happen if Marie was critical and judgmental about what client A was going through. Well client A would go to her friends and influence them by saying something to the effect of “don’t go there, that center director is mean, she didn’t listen, she didn’t care and…..you know how it goes. BUT in reality Marie is not like that at all so the model keeps growing and as it grows Marie’s circle of influence grows. Whether it is positive or negative.
But as you can see in her circle of influence that the clients are not solely inside her circle because there are many other influences in that clients life….some good, some not so good while other influencers are awful.
Introducing Grumpy Gus and His Pals
Now just because it is a positive influence does not mean it will always attract more people. That is how it works for Marie. HOWEVER you can also have the same thing happen with a negative influencer. We are going to call our next example GRUMPY GUS. We all have Grumpy Gus’ in our lives. They complain about everything. The thing is initially we don’t like Gus, BUT if we aren’t careful, Gus will start to influence us. Yep that’s right not only are we influencers but we are also influencees (yep I just made that word up.)
Grumpiness is catchy…and it can spread quick if we aren’t diligent to guard what is going on. And before long the grumpiness ripple has gone throughout our circle of influence and literally beyond that as well.
And don’t get me wrong you aren’t just limited to the Grumpy Gus Syndrome. You can suffer the Doubtful Doris, Nagging Nellie, Angry Andy, Bully Billy, Lying Lisa, Bitter Betty, Arrogant Alice Syndromes and the list can go on and on and on. And each time we get sucked into one of these “little sins”, our influence suffers.
Influence in Action
So lets say you have been witnessing to a friend. That friend is getting closer and closer to salvation. Then you make a choice. A little white lie. No one will know, no one will get hurt. This is a discussion we have with our children as we teach them about the ripple effects. First of all the lie always hurts someone….YOU the one who lied. It puts space between you and others, first and foremost Jesus, and secondly the person you white lied to. Now they may not know BUT when teaching our children we try to help them to understand through the verse that your sins will be found out. Eventually you will be caught in them. And so what you thought was innerent now effects the very person you thought would never find out.It affects your relationship with God. Sin puts a separation between the two of you until you repent and make it right AND it ruins your testimony. Yep if you were once known as a positive influence and people begin to see a pattern of lies-even white ones- they begin to question your character. If we fail to correct the problem and make it right then we get known as a liar. People lose trust and that includes the person we have spent time witnessing to. A deceptive person. And it just doesn’t stop there either.
So what about bitterness. That’s a sin of the heart. A personal sin, if you will. A private one. One kept on the inside.
Here’s what the Bible has to say about that!
Luke 6:43-45New International Version (NIV)
A Tree and Its Fruit
43 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
Seriously did you read that last verse?
45 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored
up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
I have known many people who have convinced themselves they are not bitter people. HOWEVER they cannot convince others because their hearts are revealed when they speak. This is not just a bitternesss problem either. This is anger. This is hate. This is arrogance. This is sin. What is in our hearts s what comes out of our mouths and what and how we treat people.
THAT my friends is your INFLUENCE!
Let’s Chat: what is something that has negatively influenced you in the past. I will share mine in the comments.
