Am I Influential Enough to Draw others to Christ?

You are the salt of the earth.

You are the light of the world.

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 5:13a,14a, 16

I was reading about Andrew Murray, a great man of God, and about the effect he had on his children.  And the biographer says, "He was blessed with eleven children.  Five of the six sons became ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Four of his daughters became ministers' wives."  Not bad, nine out of eleven.  Even the second generation made a good showing.  Ten grandsons became ministers of Christ and thirteen became missionaries.  What made it possible for the later generations to choose to be in ministry of the Lord? Influence.

Years ago, Elihu Burritt wrote this, "No human being can come into this world without increasing or diminishing the sum total of human happiness, not only of the present, but of every subsequent age of humanity.  No one can detach himself from this connection. It is an old saying," says Burritt, "and one of the fearful and fathomless statements of import, that we are forming characters for eternity.

This is precisely what Jesus is teaching in Matthew 5:13-16. He’s talking about influence. He’s talking about how you and I affect the world.

What message do you leave the world?  When you pass by, what are you saying to those standing on the road looking at you? Every Christian is called by God to be an influence on the world around them. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus uses the illustrations of salt and light. Both salt and light have properties which affect things around them.

The question we should be asking is not, “Am I salt and light?” If we are a believer then we are automatically salt and light. The question we should be asking is, “Am I salty and shiny?” In other words, is my life pointing people toward the “good news” of Christ and His kingdom?

We saw that the reason Jesus calls us to be salt and light is that we are to influence the world. Is there a purpose for which we should do this?

Matthew 5:16 provides the answer for that. We are salt and light for one reason – To Glorify God. And what should be the result of our glorifying God? Others, who do not know Christ, will praise God the Father.

Jesus is not saying we do good deeds so that others will notice us or praise us but so that they will see God.

The British author A. N. Wilson, an atheist before, after conversion at a church proclaiming that that the story of the Jesus of the Gospels is the only story that makes sense out of life and its challenges. He said, 'My own return to faith has surprised none more than myself...My belief has come about in large measure because of the lives and examples of people I have known - not the famous, not saints, but friends and relations who have lived, and faced death, in light of the resurrection story, or in the quiet acceptance that they have a future after they die.'”

I hope you paid attention to what the former atheist states as the human cause of his return to faith in Christ, “...the lives and examples of people I have known...” One of the most powerful tools we have in our Christian walk is influence.

Dear friends, in this world of corruption and decay and darkness can we who claim to be His children have the distinctive nature of shining out our light which will make others to ask, “By what power do they do these deeds?” 

May the Lord help us. God Bless you.