I’ve been re-reading the book “Who You Are, When No One’s Looking” by Bill Hybels.
Chapter 11 really stood out for me as I’m preparing to leave for my missions trip. So I’m typing out bits of the chapter and hope that it touches & encourages you in some way. It’s long but I have left soooo much out so I don’t give it all away. I’d highly recommend you either purchasing this book or you can borrow it off me! Lets begin.
World – Change (When Character Counts Most)
“IF THERE IS ONE CASE I’D MAKE for the cause of godly character in your life, it is this: You are a person of influence. No exceptions. If you’re sucking air and interacting with any other human beings, you affect their lives in a noticeable way. You have an impact on other people.
If you are a parent, for example, you have massive amounts of influence in the lives of your children. If you are a teacher, you have far more influence in the lives of young, impressionable students than you likely understand. If you possess leadership responsibility in the workplace, you have an effect on the people you lead, every single day.
You are a person of influence. Your attitudes, behaviours, choices, words and even facial expressions make a difference in people’s everyday lives. . .
If I could distill Jesus Christ’s teachings on character into a three-word sound bite, it would be this: maximise your influence.
YOU ARE A PERSON OF LIGHT
Each of us has a candle that is giving off a certain amount of light. The questions I want to pose is, What should we be doing with our light or our influence, on the most basic of levels? Once we begin to reflect the character of Christ – growing consistently in courage and discipline, in vision and endurance and love we become the kind of people who change the world for good. We do crazy things like spread love in the midst of great hate. We meet needs, even if it costs us much. We fight for justice and equality in every corner of life.
You spread love. I think the answer to the question of how we are to use of influence if first and foremost to spread love. First Corinthians 13 says that out of faith, hope and love, the greatest of these is love. What the world needs now is love, sweet love, right? (As well as tender love, tough love, sacrificial love and radical love. All of us would be having a greater influence on our corner of the world if we were known as being people of love.
You meet needs. In Acts 2, the first church became known for something that Scripture calls “meeting needs,” and their influence affected the entire region they were in. It says that God poured his favour on them because of the way they interacted and met each other’s needs. . . The pastor and a core group of people decided they were going to try to influence their community by meeting practical needs. They were going to assist the poor, take in wayward kids, serve people with addictions and meet every practical need they could find. Ten years later, about seven hundred people out of a town o a thousand are now part of that church. The influence that the church has on that town, the lighting up of a village where there was mostly darkness before.
You confront justice . . . .
You end violence. Christ followers to get involved in causes that actually end the violence that is occurring toward innocent people in various parts of the world, violence that ensues every hour of every day, every year that we’re alive. Forced child prostitution, human trafficking, slave labour, political beatings, false incarceration. . . May we look at our candles and ask, Am I responsible in any way to throw a little light that way?
You help reconcile people to Christ. I think Jesus would say the highest and best use of our influence is to reconcile people to God. Several times during Jesus’ ministry, he was asked what his primary mission was. Not once did he say, “Oh, just to spread some love, you know, reach out and touch somebody’s hand and make the world a better place, if I can.” When he as asked the question, he said, “I came to seek and to save what was lost.” I came to remove the barriers that keep people from being in a relationship with the Father. I came to be the bridge between people living far from God and my Father. The top thing I came to do is to reconcile people to God.
If you read the description of the first church in Acts 2, these are two priorities that were held high. First the people fearlessly proclaimed the message of Christ. At the risk of losing their lives, they went out and told the masses that they could be reconciled to God through Jesus Christ his Son. Keep in mind that they did this in a day when people were being fed to lions for speaking such things. . .
Godly character is something we have to fight for, but please hear me on this: It’s worth the fight. Light always beats out darkness. And you and I are people of light.”
