Influence

You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 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 5:13-16

It is a fairly common observation that, after several years of marriage, a husband and wife will tend to act and think like one another. It’s even possible for one or both to abandon radically different points of view in favor of a shift toward “middle ground” in political, economic or moral thinking. That’s not really surprising. In fact, it would be more surprising if, after twenty or thirty years of intimate association, neither partner had made any changes in thought, attitude or speech. We expect for one partner to have some influence on the other, for each person to be influenced by that intimate relationship.

Christianity is about influence. Those who are in Christ have been influenced by him to bring thoughts, actions and speech into conformity with his lifestyle. In turn, each Christian expects to somehow influence the lives of those living around him, anticipating a change for the better in his circle of influence. To be involved in the process of influencing others is, for the Christian, both a privilege and an obligation.

When Jesus spoke of salt and light during the “Sermon on the Mount,” he was drawing his listeners’ thoughts to the process of influence. Salt affects flavor, purges undesirable things from the system, and even acts as a preservative. Light radiates into the night, pushing away darkness and providing information and direction; without it, ignorance prevails and people are left to stumble along, never finding their way through life. That is influence! And Jesus, speaking to his followers, said, “You are the salt of the earth … you are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:13-14). Jesus expects his followers to be involved in the process of positive influence, giving flavor to the world and providing light to drive away ignorance of him and his word.

Interestingly, Jesus also warned about negative influence that would affect his followers and drive them off course, ruining their own influence. Matthew tells us about Jesus warning his disciples concerning the “leaven” of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Leaven provides influence, causing bread to rise before it is baked, lightening the texture and changing the flavor of that most basic of foods. Jesus’ disciples at first misunderstood his words about leaven, thinking that he spoke literally about bread. They finally came to understand that, by speaking of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees, Jesus spoke about their teaching, a negative influence that should be avoided (Matthew 16:6-12). Paul, the Apostle, also using the image of leaven in a lump of dough, warned the Corinthian and Galatian Christians not to be influenced by false teaching that would certainly lead them astray (1 Corinthians 5:6-8; Galatians 5:9).

The kind of positive influence of which we speak doesn’t occur by accident. It is the product of hours, days, weeks and years spent in developing the mindset of Christ (Philippians 2:5). It is the result of a decision to influence rather than be influenced. It comes to those who have truly died to themselves and allowed Christ to live in their place (Galatians 2:20).

So, how are you influencing the people in your world?

Bobby Wheat