Christian Influence

In one way or another, we are all influential as human beings. We are surrounded by many loved ones, as well as hundreds, if not thousands of individuals around us every week. From the family, to the office, and even the grocery store, the number of people we can influence on a day to day basis seems limitless. 

The question Christians must ask themselves is, how must we influence? The sad fact of the matter is, there are many negative influences within the world, and if we are not careful, we can easily become one of those influences. 

In the book of Hebrews, the author gives this piece of advice, “Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.” (Hebrews 13:7 NASB).  He wants the readers to imitate the faith of those who were influential in leading them (side note: he may talking about their elders, e.g. vs. 17 & 24). There seems to be two elements to their effective influence. 

The first element to their influence was that they “spoke the word of God to you”. As Christians, it is our responsibility to speak God’s word to others, so that they likewise, will have a strong faith. If we want to be effective influences, we must let God’s word shine in our speech. 

The second element to their influence was “conduct”.  In order to be influential in a godly perspective, there must be conduct incorporated with teaching. We cannot expect people to listen to the word of God from our mouths and obey, when they see the one speaking that same word disobeying God’s commands. If we want to be effective influences, we must let God’s word shine in our actions. 

Without these two actions incorporated together, our influence will weaken, and other souls will be influenced by our wickedness instead of our godliness. Let us speak God’s word without fear and never back down from doing so. More importantly, let us conduct ourselves in a manner worthy to be proclaiming His word. God’s word must shine in our speech, and our conduct. If we can accomplish this, who knows how many souls can be touched by God’s word through our influence.