one solitary life...

What can one life accomplish? What can one life be known for? Michael Jackson was one life who, regardless of your opinions of him, left a huge mark on modern American culture. He was the 'Elvis' of my generation. His music will continue to be popular for decades, I would guess (and yes, there will probably be tabloid stories that he isn't really dead and has been seen on a beach in South America...just wait!). How does that happen? How does one life get such popularity and notoriety in such a short period of time? There's probably a number of factors that lead to it--the 'perfect storm,' if you will--things like personality, family heritage, experiences, timing, etc.

As followers of Jesus, our pursuit should never be popularity and notoriety; that would be off track and missing the point. But does that mean we shouldn't be seeking to be people of influence in our families, work places, schools and communities? Influence is "a power to affect persons or events," and in one way or another, we all influence the folks around us to some degree. I would guess, though, that we typically don't think of being intentional about influence and that we can actually impact the lives of others to any degree. Michael Jackson is proof that it can happen, though, whether in positive or negative ways.

Jesus said to "let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father" (Matthew 5.15). I don't know about you, but that sounds like influence to me. The difference for the follower of Jesus is that the influence we have isn't to be for our own glory. Instead, our influence is to bring attention to God.

So, where do you have influence and what influence are you having? If you aren't involved in people's lives, you probably don't have any. And that's a problem because you are diminishing the possibility that people will see Jesus in you. How can you increase your influence in others' lives so that Jesus will be seen? It's a great challenge, I know, but one we must put some energy into. After all, one life can make a huge impact in our world.