My Way Or the Highway?

Proverbs 1: 32-33, “For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm."

Basically that translates this way, "Fools will die because they refuse to listen! They ultimately will be destroyed because they don’t care! However, anyone that does listen to wisdom will live in safety and be at peace without fear of harm!"

We are beginning a new year in a couple of weeks and I believe that we all possess a true desire to influence people around us! I further believe that the way to accomplish that is to start loving all of them! One thing that I have learned over the years is that I cannot antagonize people and influence them positively at the same time!

A genuine concern for the people we know is at the very heart of the process of encouragement! As we try to help and influence people in our lives that look up to us this year, we must have positive feelings and concern for them. Since we all want to help make a positive impact on other lives, we must not harbor any dislike or bias towards them, no matter what they may have done to us in the past!

I believe the greatest gift we can give others is love and respect. Seriously, none of us likes being disrespected! It's like being kicked in the gut! Being fired from a job or publicly humiliated is devastating to our emotional balance.

We, therefore, must take on a nurturing and encouraging role with the people that we want to influence! I have heard the question voiced, “Isn’t that something they can get somewhere else, like at home or church or school?” Well, let me say this, I work in a Christian school as the school's Chaplain and as a Senior Pastor of a flock in Webster, NY. Sadly, my experience has revealed to me the unfortunate truth that even Christians are desperate for encouragement! If we take the time to nurture and encourage others, we will have the opportunity to make major impact on them!

Influence is a curious thing! We impact nearly everyone we meet in some way, however, our amount of influence we have isn’t the same with everyone! There are some people that we instinctively know are impacted by us and some that are not! Some of the people we know may think everything we say should be written down as Gospel truth, while others are skeptical of everything we say, forgetting everything they hear before we have punctuated the sentence with a period at the end! Our influence on some will be greater than our influence with others!

One thing for sure, POSITION doesn’t necessarily make a leader. We may have a title or position that has some authority, boss, teacher, parent or countless others. The bible teaches that we are ALL ministers of the Gospel. However, that does not necessarily demand influence. Influence comes from us, but we must earn it. For instance, David led Israel long before Saul lost his throne (1 Chronicles 11: 1-2). David had earned influence and Saul did not! WHY?

I believe it was because David rallied the people thereby creating and maintaining UNITY! IDENTIFICATION! David identified with his people as family!
CREDIBILITY! David’s strategies were effective!
ANOINTING! David knew that God’s hand and power was on his life!
PARTNERSHIP! David worked in cooperation with the people in his life!

People will reflect their leadership! Leaders cannot expect their team to grow beyond the example of leadership that they maintain, therefore, leaders cannot expect their team to be fundamentally different than they are!

consider Proverbs 29!

Verse 2, “When the righteous thrive, the people rejoice; when the wicked rule, the people groan.” This speaks to attitude.

Verse 4 speaks to stability … “By justice a king gives a country stability, but one who is greedy for bribes tears it down.”

Verse 7 speaks of compassion … “The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern.”

Verse 12 speaks of honesty … “If a ruler listens to lies, all his officials become wicked.”

And finally … verse 18 gives us the vision! “Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law.”

My personal challenge this year for myself is to jettison any attitude of "My way or the highway!" and instead to remember that COMPETENCE + CHARACTER + CONNECTION = INFLUENCE!

I am going to try very hard to grow in each of these areas especially in reference to the people I know in my life and the people that I lead! We must use our influence as Christians, to lead other people in the right way and to help them grow as well!

We are all appointed by God Himself to speak into the lives of other people! Our ability to make things happen in & through them depends entirely on our ability to be led by Him! Basically … leadership is influence! Furthermore, since we are all called to be leaders, that means that we all have 2 things in common! First, we are going somewhere, and second, we are able to persuade others to follow us!

Integrity is essential to influence! Here's a challenge for all of us to follow for the year! 1 Thess. 5: 16-18, “Be joyful always; pray continually; 18give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus!”

I saw a TV documentary that spoke about the footprints of the astronauts on the moon. The ad declared that since there is nor rain or wind that they will last a million years! Well … God in Christ left footprints on this planet for 33 years and after 2,000 years, His footprints are just as fresh as the day He walked the earth! The impact of His presence is still felt in the souls of people all over the world.

This year, we will all have an opportunity to encourage others to walk in our footprints! I believe that they will only IF ... we are joyful, prayed up and thankful! For this is the will of God! Amen? Amen!

In HIS Grip,
samme