Called to Influence

By: Sarah MacKinney

Who do you influence? Who do you impact? Who is watching you? The dictionary defines influence as having a strong effect on someone or something. Believe it or not, you have a strong effect on people every single day. Whether you are a stay at home mom, a working mom or somewhere in between, you are an influencer, either positively or negatively. When you go to the grocery store, you are influencing people. What you post on social media is influencing people. Why? Because they are watching you to see how you act and how you speak. But how seriously do we take that job? Are we building up those around us or tearing them down? Are we speaking life or speaking death? Are we judging or loving? The Bible tell us in Luke 6:45 that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. That means whatever is in our heart, comes out in our speech and our actions; everything flows from the heart. That is why King Solomon said, "Above all else, guard your heart."

I believe as Christians we should be the most joyful people on the planet. Why?  Because we know who wins! We know the final outcome. No matter what happens in this life, we have the hope of something far better. I get it, we all have bad days now and then; we get stressed and overwhelmed, we respond poorly, we frown at the customer service person, we bark at our kids, we get frustrated with our co-workers. We are human and we have human, God-given emotions.  But what we do with those emotions is key. You are shaping the hearts of your children, you are teaching your co-workers what Jesus looks like; you are modeling what it means to be a Godly friend, what it means to be a serving spouse, a humble mother, an honest employee and so much more. We add salt to our food to enhance the flavor, right?  We are called to be the salt of the world, so we can enhance the lives of others.

So how do we make sure that our influence is a positive one?  How do we ensure that we are representing Christ accurately? Simple really. By spending time with Him. Learning His character, praying for His responses, asking Him for wisdom and just basking in His presence and letting Him lovingly and gently speak to our weary souls. He has so much to say but often times we have too many distractions begging for our attention. So think about it. Who are you influencing? Who hears what you say and see's how you act? Where are you succeeding, what areas could you do better? I want to be a positive influence for my children, for the kids in our kid's ministry, my friends and everyone I come into contact with. We probably all have that one person we remember from our childhood who always made us feel good about ourselves, always made us feel valuable. You remember them because they impacted your life, you remember them because they gave you positive reinforcement. As believers the Bible tells us that we are the aroma of Christ. What kind of fragrance are you leaving?

Sarah