How do you help others experience God? One of the ways in which the gift of your influence makes a difference in your world is this: You help others experience the love of God.
More on this topic below the image:
The Gift of Your Influence: 5 Amazing Possibilities
Possibility #2 Experience
Who is the nicest person you’ve ever met?
For me, that’s a pretty simple answer. My grandma.
When I was two years old, my dad was deployed by the military to Japan. My mom, my brother, and I remained here in the US. My mom, saddled with the need to work and yet care for two very small children, did the only thing that made sense at the time; she moved us back to her parents’ farm. There she went to work every day, and my grandfather went out to work the fields every day. That left my brother and me at home with my grandma.
It was one of the best things that ever happened to me. From my grandma I learned some very important life lessons. Like some people are safe. Some people are kind. Some people are gentle. Some people can be trusted. It was clear to me that my grandma loved Jesus with all her heart—that was clear before I really even knew who Jesus was.
What did my grandma do? She used the gift of her influence to help me experience the love of God. While many of us believe that God loves us, that love remains abstract, theological, theoretical—unless and until someone comes into our lives to show us what that love is all about.
In my case, if it hadn’t been for my grandma, I don’t know that I ever would have said yes to Jesus. She made Jesus attractive to me.
Your world is filled with people who need to experience the love of God. The gift of your influence can make that possible. What will that look like? It might look like homemade bread toasted with butter and sugar given to a four year old child. Or it might mean a kind word, a meal, groceries, a long walk, a day fishing. It might mean you advocate for them, protect them, watch out for their interests in a world where everyone is looking out for #1. It might mean that your provide a safe place. In some cases, it means you hurt with those who hurt, you celebrate with those who celebrate. It may mean that you make sacrifices for them, little sacrifices, or maybe big sacrifices.
When Jesus walks in a room, everything changes. There are over seven billion people on this earth. Is Jesus physically present with each? No. Instead, He sends you. You are His body. You are His representative. You are His physical presence in someone’s life. You convey His love to the people in your world.
How do the people in your world discover that God is good? How do they experience God’s love? They experience it through you, through the gift of your influence.
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