The Ingredients of Influence
Jesus on Influence
If you Google, “how do I become an influencer?” you’ll receive 185 million results in half a second.
If you search the same question on YouTube, over 10 videos with at least half a million views will appear instantaneously.
Many are asking the question, “how do I become an influencer?”
In fact, in 2019, 86% of young Americans surveyed said they wanted to become a Social Media Influencer. “Social media star” is the fourth-most desired career aspiration of kids.[1]
But, what does it mean to be an influencer and why are so many people aspiring to become one?
The Original Influencers
I’d like to come right out and say, I don’t think it’s wrong or bad to become an influencer. In fact, I think Jesus himself challenged his disciples to influence others. In Matthew 28:19, Jesus says,
“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
The Greek translation says to literally, “disciple all nations.” To disciple means to teach or train.[2] In other words, Jesus instructs his disciples to influence or instruct others in the Way of Jesus.
As followers of Jesus ourselves, we are tasked with the very same mandate. Our job is to influence this world for the Kingdom of God.
The question, therefore, isn’t about our mission but rather, our motivations.
What are the underlying desires of our heart that define the need to influence those around us?
“Our job is to influence this world for the Kingdom of God.”
I think, before we get to the way of Jesus, two Old Testament figures serve as archetypes for what healthy and unhealthy influence looks like.
The Spoils of Worldly Influence: King Saul
At the request of the Israelite people, God permits His nation to resurrect a king. Through the prophet Samuel, the people choose a man named Saul.
Saul is never an exceptional king in the political sense and he certainly isn’t one in the human sense. In fact, Saul is a deeply flawed man who shows us the peril that awaits us when the desire for influence outweighs our integrity.
I believe God gives favor to His followers.
We see all throughout Scripture, a divine fortune of influence that rests upon the shoulders of God’s people. Please don’t mistake this for a false theology that God favors these people. God loves all of creation (John 3:16) and offers the free gift of salvation to humanity out of sheer goodness and sacrifice (Romans 5:8).
However, those who choose to follow him, He does grant favor to. And—out of an abundance of mercy—He offers many chances to multiply that favor for Kingdom influence and exaltation of His Great Name.
In every person’s life, there are certain moments that bring about a crossroads of sorts.
To go one direction leads to a production of goodness whereas to choose another way leads to destruction (Matthew 7:18). It’s in these moments that we must choose whether we will obey or reject God’s direction.
As a follower of Jesus with the gift of the Holy Spirit residing inside of us, we’re promised an ability to discern between the two (1 Corinthians 2:14).
This isn’t to say that what awaits on the other side is inherently evil or wrong. In fact, it may even be beneficial.
Nonetheless, the earthly spoils of influence—fame, wealth, pride, greed, knowledge, honor and acceptance, among others—can entrap our soul in a way that’s wholly dishonoring to the God we serve.
The reality is, a byproduct of influence is fame. Jesus is the greatest influencer to ever live and is subsequently the most famous person to ever live, after all.
It is the underlying motivation, however, that sets our trajectory and course of the legacy we will one day leave.
Saul had many moments to obey God and honor Him or to simply uplift his own platform. Unfortunately, on multiple occasions, Saul chooses the latter.
Consider this excerpt from 1 Samuel 15: The prophet Samuel gives explicit instructions to Saul on how to lead the Israelites to victory over the Amalekites (a victory that—done convincingly—would have brought about immense fame and recognition for God).
The battle is won, but in no way that Samuel had instructed.
Saul, on his God-given talent and skill alone, defeats the Amalekites but disobeys Samuel and God in finishing the battle.
Instead, he allows his soldiers to partake in the spoils of riches their victory has gained them. This infuriates both God and Samuel. When Samuel confronts Saul, he first spins the truth to stubbornly justify his disobedience (1 Samuel 15:15), then he blame shifts onto his inferiors (1 Samuel 15:21), before finally confessing his sin.
However, notice the motivation of his heart in his confession. 1 Samuel 15:30 recounts King Saul saying,
“I have sinned, but please honor me before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and turn back with me, that I may worship the Lord your God” (emphasis added).
Yikes.
Not much for an authentic apology.
The reality is, Saul’s desire for the personal spoils that influence afforded him outweighed his motivation to influence the world for God.
This is our daily struggle, my friends.
With the favor of God graciously resting upon us, we are given opportunities to influence others for our benefit or for God’s glory.
Those who lead with a pure heart end up reaping benefits that are usually invested back in to multiply their influence to bring God glory.
However, those who buy into the hype that influence gives—whether it be an enormous amount of friends, fans or followers, riches or fame—and believe it’s all about them almost always end up crashing and burning.
Saul’s heart leads him down a path that ends up tarnishing his reputation, relationships and influence forever. He allows the insecurity of himself to linger heavier in his soul than the security afforded to him in God.
When we buy into the lie that influence is for our benefit or agenda, we will suffer the same consequences.
The platform and influence we spend building will come crashing down if not built on the foundation of the person of Jesus.
Who then, can we look to as guides for Godly influence? I know of many, but let’s look at two.
The Spoils of Biblical Influence: King David
Coming up behind King Saul was an externally meek but internally mighty boy named David.
His capacity of courage, strength and devotion was second only to his love of God. As the favor of God began to mix with his God-given gifts and talents, David’s influence soared.
Despite a warp speed-rising reputation, we see David maintain a level head for most of his ascension.
How is this possible?
It all begins with David’s beginning.
For years, David spends time alone in a field tending sheep.
Seriously.
Day in and day out, his job is to ensure that sheep—the most unintelligent, defenseless animals on the planet—are kept safe. So much for influence.
But there’s more to this formative time than many realize. The years spent in obscurity, isolation and solitude became the training ground for the formation of character David needed to endure his fast rise to a figure of influence.
And that, my friends, is the secret ingredient to influence.
Solitude provides space for our hearts to have its priorities realigned.
Remember, with God’s favor on our lives, influence is inevitable. It’s a mandate on our lives as disciples of Jesus to be influencers. But only those with a heart and character full of integrity to match will be able to withstand the worldly temptations widespread influence brings.
The brilliant author and preacher Chuck Swindoll put it beautifully. He says that,
“Men and women of God, servant-leaders in the making, are first unknown, unseen unappreciated, and applauded. In the relentless demands of obscurity, character is built. Strange as it may seem, those who first accept the silence of obscurity are best qualified to handle the applause of popularity.”
I love that.
Those who accept the silence of obscurity are actually set up best to handle the applause that influence inevitably brings them.
“Solitude provides space for our hearts to have its priorities realigned.”
David’s beginnings are a fantastic reminder that obscurity is not to be avoided.
In fact, it’s to be embraced.
I was in a conversation the other day with a pastor who asked me, “Micah, give me a list of names of Christian influencers under 30 that I should connect with.”
I scratched my head as I could only name 2-3 off the top of my head that I’ve followed here and there on social media.
But, the more I’ve thought about it, the more grateful I am that I couldn’t name more.
My hope and prayer is that there’s not a great swell of young, Christ-following influencers who are prematurely thrusted into the spotlight.
In following the biblical pattern, if the character of the individual is not properly formed, failure is inevitable.
This isn’t to say that failure is unavoidable even for those, “after God’s own heart” as David was.
Most of us are well-aware of David’s great sin of adultery with Bathsheba. Just as with Saul, severe consequences are given to David as a result of his disobedience.
The difference is found in David’s repentant spirit.
Psalm 51 provides the blueprint for an integrity-filled prayer of repentance. The authenticity of David’s remorse is unquestioned.
God doesn’t require us to be perfect, He simply requires us to be persistent in our pursuit of Him.
Therein lies another ingredient to influence.
An impassioned pursuit of God’s heart overcomes our iniquities and shortcomings that inevitably befall our wretched humanity.
David’s story shows us that God is bigger than our imperfections and when our priorities are aligned or repentantly realigned, He will still receive glory.
“God doesn’t require us to be perfect, He simply requires us to be persistent in our pursuit of Him.”
On the other side of David’s confession—contrary to Saul—lied a legacy, admiration and purpose that is still talked about today.
The Real Influencer
But, what about Jesus?
Surely, the Savior of the world has something to say about influence.
On multiple occasions, Jesus peels back the layer of genuine influence. I can imagine that as a disciple in the inner circle of Jesus, one would struggle with not allowing the constant attention and proximity to enlarge their ego.
If you were one of three in the inner-inner circle of Jesus, surely the temptation would be that much greater.
Can you imagine how important you’d feel if you were one of Justin Bieber’s or Lebron James’s two or three closest confidants (not that these figures are comparable to Jesus, FYI). The feeling of importance would surely be intoxicating.
As it turns out, it was for two of Jesus’ closest friends.
The disciples James and John or, “The Sons of Thunder” as they’re famously nicknamed, wrestle with their own influence on multiple occasions.
In this particular example, they come before Jesus and ask bluntly,
“Teacher,” they said, “we want you to do for us whatever we ask.”
“What do you want me to do for you?” he asked.
They replied, “Let one of us sit at your right and the other at your left in your glory.”
You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said. “Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?”
“We can,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”
When the ten heard about this, they became indignant with James and John. Jesus called them together and said, “You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:35-45, NIV).
Jesus is pretty explicit, if you want to be great, if you want to be an influencer, then you must serve.
This sounds a lot easier than it is to put in practice, isn’t it?
For many of us, we know that the pathway to leadership and influence is through servitude. And yet, so many of us are unwilling to do it.
Why?
Because to serve means to put our ego, our pride, our influence or our reputation aside for the benefit of others.
I think many of us—myself first and foremost—would have a hard time admitting the temptation to ignore this command from Jesus.
As apprentices of Him, we are called not to be served, but to serve.
The cherry-on-top ingredient of an influencer is simply, humility.
How does one go about being humble? I love the great philosopher, Dallas Willard’s, approach to humility.
He illuminates,
“This is the path to humility. Never pretend. Never presume. Never push.”[3]
My own definition of humility with respect to influence is this, “to lay before my personal agenda the exaltation of God’s glory first and the well-being of others second.”
When we become active practitioners of humility, when we seek to serve rather than to be served, we effectively become more and more like Jesus—the greatest influencer to ever live.
The Recipe
In case you’ve had difficulty tracking so far, there are four main ingredients to living a life of influence.
In summary, those who will impact and influence the most will live a life abiding in Jesus and packaging together the graces of favor, solitude, authenticity and humility.
Favor is God-given. It is not earned nor is it won. Out of the graciousness and mercy of a loving Father, we are graced with a favor to influence others for the Kingdom.
Solitude provides the training ground for character and spiritual formation to take deep root. Influence should never be pushed for prematurely. In the obscurity of solitude, a measure of Christlikeness is developed to withstand the worldly benefits influence tries to convince us are, “spoils for the victors” (see the story of Saul above).
“When we become active practitioners of humility, when we seek to serve rather than to be served, we effectively become more and more like Jesus—the greatest influencer to ever live.”
When the meteoric or mundane rise of influence occurs, opportunities to indulge our sinful desires will come and go. In those moments, we have a choice to remain rooted in the character we developed in solitude or to give into the worldly benefits that attempt to convince us contain the essence of happiness.
As we engage this journey, perfection is unattainable, and imperfection is unavoidable. However, when one authentically pursues the Lord above all else, His grace and mercy become enough to sustain us.
At every turn, we must develop the self-awareness to, as David confessed,
“Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.”
An authentic pursuit of God’s heart roots out any misaligned desires within our souls.
And finally, if you’d like your influence to grow, humility must be developed. Seek ways to exalt God in all that you do. Look for opportunities to promote others above yourself. Develop rhythms to serve those around you. As Jesus said, if you want to grow your influence, you must pick up a towel and serve.
Admittedly, I struggle in all four of these areas consistently. Therefore, I genuinely thank God that my influence is not close to the level of those who shape me on a daily basis.
My hope and prayer, however, is that, should the potential of my influence ever be reached, that I may be living a life of integrity that mirrors in secret what I teach in public.
That I—with immense gratitude—praise God for the favor placed undeservingly on my life.
That I—with great rigor—pursue constant rhythms of solitude to reform and realign my heart after God’s.
That I—with incredible veracity—seek to live a life of authentic pursuit of the person of Jesus.
That I may make it my mission to—as one of my influences, John Mark Comer puts it—"be with Jesus, become like Jesus and do what Jesus did.”
That I—with overwhelming joy—attempt to live a life of humility. That my legacy will not be built upon the number of followers or views I’ve amassed, shares I’ve received or approvals I’m given. Rather, that as my platform and influence grow, my desire to serve all who surround me would do the same.
Jesus encompasses all of these traits in their highest form.
He is perfect.
He’s influenced, is influencing and will influence more people than anyone ever.
God’s Son—who had the humility to be incarnate Himself as vulnerable baby.
God’s Son—who is favorably esteemed above any other being to live.
God’s Son—who authentically pursued His Father with a perfect, wholesome, constant vigor and passion that is unmatched.
God’s Son—who for 30 years, lived a life of complete obscurity and who—on the fastest, organic rise to fame imaginable, developed constant rhythms of solitude to ground Himself in His purpose and mission—to influence the masses for the Kingdom of God.
His legacy has certainly lasted.
Will yours?
Be encouraged.
[1] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/social-media-influencers-86-of-young-americans-want-to-become-one/
[2] https://www.dictionary.com/browse/disciple
[3] https://www.keepbelieving.com/articles/dallas-willard-on-humility/
