How Are You Wielding Your Influence?

Just a short one today, although I’ve said that before, and then 2,000 words later…Anyways.  Regardless of who you are, how old you are, or where you work, you wield influence over many people.  How are you affecting them?

If you are Halle Berry, Barack Obama, Creflo Dollar or Paris Hilton you obviously have a lot of influence over a lot of people, although how you’re using that influence can be quite debatable (Paris Hilton).  Millions of people keep up with your every move, and millions of people want to know every word that comes out of your mouth.  As a public figure, I believe that it is your responsibility to wield you’re influence responsibly, and conduct yourself from within the confines of a moral code, preferably the one found in the Bible.  Dozens of celebrities, particularly the young ones say “But I never asked to be a role model!” Which is just a whiny cop-out.  If you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen! When you sign up for fame, you sign up to have every moment of your life scrutinized.  Period.  

But lets say your face is not internationally recognizable.  Lets say you are the CEO of a company, the youth pastor at a church, or a librarian.  You come into contact with dozens of people a day, perhaps hundreds a week! Those people have certain expectations in regards to your behavior.  They are looking to you for leadership and guidance.  And you have a responsibility to give them that direction they seek! You also have a responsible to do so in an ethical manner.  But do your duties cease when you punch the clock at the end of the day? No! It doesn’t pay for a young person who is battling peer pressure to drink and fornicate to see his youth pastor at the hottest club in town.

Lets take it down another notch.  You’re a cashier, a hair dresser, or a waitress like myself (or as I like to put it, an as yet unpublished author who waits tables until she is published).  You interact with many people on a day-to day basis.  But you assume that, as long as you do your job, and provide the service you are paid to do, no one cares about you as a person.  No one notices whether or not you have a moral compass.  Wrong! Guests at my restaurant tell me all the time that they can recognize Jesus in my life, by my demeanor. Folks comment on how I carry myself while I’m waiting for the bus.  And my coworkers tell me that they try to be a better person because of the way I conduct myself and my affairs. 

I’m going to take it to one more level.  When you are standing in an incredibly long customer service line that is not moving, you have influence over others.  The person who complains affects the whole line badly.  The person who taps their foot loudly and impatiently affects the line negatively.  The person who is cheerful, cracks jokes, or even just smiles at everyone, that person has a positive affect on everyone in that line, and the poor overworked customer service representative as well.  And people will remember that positive person and their sunny demeanor even after they exit the line and go about their individual days. 

I wield an incredible amount of influence on a lot of people.  I have to admit, I am not mindful of that influence 100 % of the time, but I’m working on it.  I want people to see Jesus in everything I do, everything I say.  Because no one needs to see Marta.  Without the Lord I am merely a wretch at best.  I urge you all to consider the effect you have on others, and improve the way you wield that influence.  God Bless!