Influence

Wednesday June 20, 2018

 

DEFINITION:

The capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something, or the effect itself.

 

At the age of eighty, a man named Moses, Jewish by birth, was nowhere close to being the man that he once was. Time and failure had taken its toll on him. In the past he had been a prince in Egypt, at the time the most powerful nation on earth. His position gave him much more influence than that of the vast majority of the people of his generation. Understanding of his standing, Moses intended to use his influence to set the people of Israel free, they had been enslaved in Egypt for some 400 years. However, his plan was a colossal failure. Forty years have passed since his failed attempt as a liberator; Moses is now eighty years old. Far from Egypt, in the backend of the wilderness, his royal title as Prince had been exchanged for the title of shepherd. His influence as a Prince has now been reduced to influencing sheep in the wilderness. But that is when God showed up and asked Moses, what is in your hand?

 

Moses no longer carried with him a sword and a shield, now he carried a shepherd’s staff, an indication of his diminished status and influence. He no longer lived in a royal palace, he no longer had influence over a nation; now he lived in the wilderness and his influence was limited to a flock of sheep. However, when Moses decided to surrender the staff he carried in his hand, (his influence), God used it to send Moses back to Egypt to liberate the people of Israel from slavery.

 

… Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. – 2 Corinthians 2:9 NIV

 

When it comes to influence, we all have a measure. Some have more, others less, but we all have a measure of influence. It does not matter how much influence we have. What matters is how we are using our influence. If we keep our influence in our hands we will only go so far. But, if we surrender our influence to God, He can do amazing things through us. How are you using your influence? You might influence nations, or just two or three people, the issue is not the measure of your influence; the issue is whether or not you have surrendered your influence to God.