Influencer: Salt and Light

Massive shifts are occurring in our culture and godly influence is declining. We see it slipping away before us in all arenas of life: government, business, media, education, sports, the church, the home! The erosion was subtle for decades, but it seems like a landslide is now under way.

As the church, how do we respond? As Christians, how do we influence the culture for Jesus Christ again?

God’s timeless solution lies in everyday believers. Jesus said to His followers,

You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world. — Matthew 5:13-14

As God’s salt and light, ordinary Christians have the potential to season society with godliness and shine bright in a dark world. That’s a natural, bottom-up godly influence rather than top-down. That’s authentic influence regardless of what the buzz phrase “being an influencer” means in many circles today. It’s not an important title, position, expertise, mood, qualification, great wealth, and so on, that determines whether you can influence or not. God has a knack of using ordinary people to accomplish His extraordinary purposes in the world. Everyday believers can saturate the culture with God’s flavor and light and so influence it for good. But this is only possible if they too are formed Christ’s way. It is lives shaped by God today that produce cultures re-shaped for God tomorrow: in government, business, media, education, and on and on.

God gives us a role model in the Scriptures to see exactly how this natural influence can occur through you. He stands in sharp contrast to the role models we tend to parade when following the world’s view on “being an influencer.” His name is Barnabas.

Barnabas shows you rather than tells you how to shape society for Jesus. He is God’s choice role model for everyday believers — from ministry leaders to stay-at-home parents to corporate CEO’s. He only pops up in the Book of Acts on a number of occasions but is described as ^“a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith,” (Acts 11:24). We don’t have any books he wrote nor sermons he preached. Barnabas doesn’t write pieces that become parts of the Bible like many of his close colleagues in the early church. At times he simply emerges as a part-farmer and part-parishioner in his local church. On other occasions he is a part-pastor or part-missionary taking on more formal duties. Overall, Barnabas was just an ordinary Christian like us who knew God personally and loved whoever was around him fully. How he did that helps us!

In watching Barnabas shape the lives of those around him, we all learn how to shape those around us too. Barnabas understood how to find, form, and launch another life in Jesus Christ. He mentored the Apostle Paul. He mentored John Mark. Both go on to become great Christian leaders. And both write much of the New Testament! Barnabas poured his life into both men. That’s how governments, businesses, and homes are changed: through the people that step into those spheres. Those people need formed Christ’s way. Barnabas understood that the most powerful influence to shape a human being by God’s design is exposure to another human being!

• People shape people.

And people are everywhere to be formed.

So, every follower of Jesus is to influence those around them for Jesus. Government, corporations, even church policies and programs are often good. Pastors preaching sermons is important. But historically, it’s been regular, everyday Christians like you living out the gospel in the daily ruts and routines of life that have shaped society for God most. And most did so anonymously. Most found it hard too. Most Christians never preached a sermon nor wrote a book. But they knew they were personally responsible for the Great Commission of Jesus to make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20). And they knew they — not their pastor for them — would one day stand before Jesus accountable for the lives of the people around them. So, they stepped out into their little patch of the world to be salty and bright for Jesus. They became part of God’s timeless solution to shape their family, friends, work colleagues, and neighborhoods. You can too! Barnabas models how.

Written for Devotionals Daily by Jonathan Murphy author of Authentic Influencer.

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Your Turn

You don’t have to be a preacher, or an author, or a social media “influencer” to have impact for the Kingdom of God, to be an authentic influencer. What you do matters! Your godly influence can change lives. Who are you being salt and light with today? ~ Devotionals Daily