Influencer?

When we think about influencers the first people that come to our mind are probably social media influencers. We imagine someone running around with a camera pointed at themselves or maybe doing a silly dance in front of their cell phones. Influencers seem to be an easy target for jokes, but that is not what this post is about.

Merriam-Webster.com defines an influencer as one who exerts influence: a person who inspires or guides the actions of others.

Cambridge Dictionary defines an influencer as someone who affects or changes the way that other people behave.

Many look up to influencers on social media to guide them with their decision-making, but you also impact the decisions of those around you.

Parents are influencers, older siblings are influencers, cousins, the cool aunt, the loving grandma, the fun grandpa, and even the crazy uncle. Friends and teachers are also powerful influencers. I enjoy listening to interviews on podcasts and I have listened to many interviews with powerful and successful people. It is amazing how many of them mention a teacher that had a significant impact on their lives. Many seem to take place early on, before high school. It amazes me how many people who today are successful came from difficult and even abusive homes, but had a teacher who believed in them or who helped them fall in love with reading, math, history, or just learning in general, and that turned their life around.

I bet you can think of at least one teacher who exerted significant influence over your life.

Many of us have also been influenced by our friends, both for good and for evil.

Influence is a gift and a responsibility

I was reading a book that was published in the year 1900 and surprisingly it talked about influencers. Well, not influencers exactly but about influence. What surprised me most is that the author mentioned influence as a gift we receive from God. She described the life of Christ as an ever-widening, shoreless influence, an influence that bound Him to God and to the whole human family. I just love this way of thinking about influence.

The author goes on to describe how God has invested all of us with an influence that makes it impossible for us to live to ourselves. She argues that all of us are we are connected with those around us, a part of God’s great whole, and we stand under mutual obligations. According to her, no one can be independent of his neighbor; because the well-being of each affects others.

What do you think about this? Do you agree that each person should feel herself necessary for the welfare of those around her, and seek to promote their happiness?

Influence is both conscious and unconscious

Every soul is surrounded by an atmosphere of its own—an atmosphere, it may be, charged with the life-giving power of faith, courage, and hope, and sweet with the fragrance of love. Or it may be heavy and chill with the gloom of discontent and selfishness, or poisonous with the deadly taint of cherished sin. By the atmosphere surrounding us, every person with whom we come in contact is consciously or unconsciously affected.

- Ellen Gould White, Christ’s Object Lessons (Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1900), 339.

Imagine an atmosphere that surrounds you and as you interact with others your atmosphere exerts a certain level of influence over them. This makes sense in my mind. Because I have felt happier after being around someone who was positive and smiling. I have also felt the negative influence of being around someone who is always ready to criticize, constantly looking at the downside of a situation, and always discouraging others. Imagine walking with someone through a beautiful garden and having someone ignore all the beautiful flowers and only focus on the thorns, ignore the fragrance of the flowers and focus on the pollen, or spend the whole time afraid of the bees and other insects the flowers attract and completely miss the beauty right before their eyes.

Thinking about this made me wonder about what quality of the atmosphere that surrounds me. Am I a positive influence on those around me?

Sinners drew near to Jesus

Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.”
- Luke 15:1-2 NKJV

There was something about Jesus that was appealing to sinners and tax collectors. This is fascinating because Jesus did not promote sin (John 8:11). Could it be that the sinners and tax collectors longed to be free from sin, free from addiction, to live a new life, but did not know how to go about attaining that freedom?

Could it be that there are people who secretly desire to have the faith you have, but don’t know how to go about it?

Think about this with me, and let me know if it makes sense to you.

What if we all have a responsibility from which we cannot free ourselves? Could our words, our actions, the way we dress, our attitude, and even our facial expressions, have an influence? I don’t mean to scare you, but it would be difficult to measure the impact of our influence on those around us. When, by our example, we help others develop good principles, we give them power to do good. Now they turn around and exert the same influence upon others, and they upon still others. Imagine how by our unconscious influence thousands may be blessed! I don’t want to scare you, I want you to be excited about the possibilities for good! Your kindness, patience, politeness, and willingness to help, can have an impact you will never fully understand.

Our influence is like a pebble thrown into a quiet lake, you can never tell how far and wide the ripples will go and the impact they will have on others. Far beyond our knowledge and control, our influence is affecting others as a blessing or as a curse.

Story Time

Early in my ministry, I began to feel a great burden to live the perfect life. I didn’t have children yet, which made it a bit easier, but I wanted to be an exemplary husband, a great friend, and a trusted confidant. Not only that I also wanted to know all the answers and never make any mistakes. I wanted to be the perfect youth pastor.

Being a great husband, and a good and trustworthy friend, are good goals. But wanting to have all the answers and never make mistakes is not healthy. It got to the point that by the end of my first two years of ministry I was close to burning out, even though I was not familiar with the term back then. But I just felt this great weight on my shoulders whenever I interacted with anyone and it was slowly crushing me. The idea that I could have done more, I could have tried harder, I should know more, I could have said it differently, I should have been there, was taking all the joy out of my ministry. I was succeeding, by God’s grace, but it was becoming too heavy a burden to carry.

I tell you this story because I do not want you to feel the same way after hearing my thoughts on discipleship and the burden of your influence over others.

Eventually, I began to think about walking away from full-time ministry. maybe I was not cut out for it. I had too many flaws, I fell short too often of being the perfect pastor.

But then, as I was considering this, and praying about it, other thoughts came into my mind. Was I going to walk away from ministry because I wanted to sin? Was my goal to become a worse husband? Was I planning on being dishonest in the near future?

In other words, it dawned on me, that the call to be a good spouse, a trustworthy friend, and an overall force for good in the world was not a call for only pastors, but for everyone who was a follower of Jesus. What I needed to work on was on surrendering to God and allowing Him to give me the victories as opposed to trying to white-knuckle my way through life. I needed to learn to handle failures in a healthier way and treat them as learning opportunities. I also had to humble myself and realize that even with a theology degree I still had much to learn.

Today I desire not only to be a great husband but also an awesome father to my children. I want to be a positive influence in the lives of those around me. I still don’t like a failure, but I have experienced it enough to handle it with more grace. I am much more comfortable admitting what I don’t know and I love learning new things. Most importantly, I better realize the responsibility of my influence over those around me and humbly come to Jesus seeking the wisdom and strength only He can provide.

In other words, instead of focusing on myself, I have shifted my focus to Jesus and His promise of the Holy Spirit. My focus is not on trying harder, but on surrendering regularly. I now recognize that I must minister out of the overflow of what God gives me, so I need to come to him as a needy child, claiming His promises.

Ministry had not really become easier, but it has become more enjoyable. I am still relearning these lessons often. Now I have a new appreciation for passages like Acts 1:8

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
- Acts 1:8 (ESV)

In order to be Jesus’ witnesses, we need to receive power. In order to receive power, we need the Holy Spirit. And this brings to my mind Luke 11:13 which has become one of my favorite Bible texts.

If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
- Luke 11:13 NKJV

Takeaway

I believe that discipleship is influence. How we live our lives affects the lives of those around us.

I don’t want you to feel crushed by the weight of the responsibility you carry due to the influence you have over others. Rather I want you to be excited about all the good that God can accomplish through you. Don’t look to yourself, that will only discourage you. Look to Jesus, surrender to Him, and allow Him to fill you with all the wonderful gifts things He desperately wants to give you through the Holy Spirit. Then go and live your life exerting a positive influence on all who interact with you. May God bless you and make you a blessing wherever you go. (Genesis 12:3)