In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 5:16
Evidently, I didn’t publish yesterday’s devotional, so here goes a second attempt to finish up these ideas on influence.
Over the weekend while reading through a devotional from Alistair Begg, the following comment stood out as I considered this final writing on influence. Begg wrote, “Maybe you’ve been led to believe that your best days are behind you; you’re a sputtering candle, a faint and dying flame.”
There may be times when you or I feel powerless, but we are not. We have the ability to influence the people in our universe through the power of example. Consider this:
“The whole community can see the husband and wife loving and honoring one another, devoted and faithful to one another, and finding fulfillment in one another. They see the children growing up in the security of a loving and disciplined home. They see a family not turned in on itself, but turned outward—entertaining strangers, welcoming, keeping an open home, seeking to get involved in the concerns of the community. One Christian nurse in a hospital; one Christian teacher in a school; one Christian in a shop, in a factory, or in an office—we will all make a difference, for good or for ill.”
John Stott
I know families who represent Christ well, nurses, and teachers, everywhere. As Matthew recorded in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, we are to let our light shine all around us, so that others will see the effect of the life of one who follows Christ.
Each one of us has a role we are playing, so the question is what kind of influence I have on others? Is it for good or ill?
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