you are the salt of the earth

Fresh Manna
by Pastor Tim Burt

When my kids were young, they loved when we went to the State Fair. If they could only have one treat, it would be cotton candy. I would order it for them and myself. When we were done, our hands were horribly sticky and stuck to everything we touched until we finally washed them.

Did you know that God wants us to be sticky in one area of our life? He wants us to be sticky influencers. He wants us to have godly influence on others that sticks to their life.

As Christians, God wants us to see our lives as a source of continuous influence. Become an influencer and you increase your opportunity to one day influence someone to receive Jesus as their Savior.

You life is a book to be read by others as they watch you day by day. You may not realize it, but you can powerfully influence people through the consistency of living a Christ-like walk. People judge you quickly through first impressions but after that, judge you by how they most consistently observe you.

When people think of influencers, they often think of people with titles, important positions, power, celebrity status, or greatness. Of course these kinds of people have influence. But God has created you to be an influence whether you have any kind of title or status or not. God would rather have us focus on and be sensitive to the opportunities that are currently before us—those in our daily surroundings. He wants people to see Jesus in us. For this reason, He doesn’t want us on and off like a light switch.

When you walk into a grocery store or sit down in a restaurant, He wants people to sense God’s love from you. That happens not because you stopped to preach at them, but because you stopped to look them in the eyes and respond with a smile and kindness. It happens because you asked them their name and how their day was going, even though they are there to serve you. It happens because you took a moment to bring light into their life through your kind words or actions. This is the influence that God uses to draw people into His love. And when this happens through you consistently, your influence becomes sticky!

There’s a restaurant Renee and I frequent. We love the food and atmosphere. Because we come back there, we’ve learned most of the serving staff’s names. I keep them in my phone so we can greet them by name when we return. We treat them like good friends. Because of that, most of the staff knows who we are, what we do, and that opens different doors of conversation and influence with each one! We are intentional in trying to be a light! It creates great favor, new friends and acquaintances, and opportunities to share God’s love. One day the staff threw us spontaneous breakfast celebration for free! It was amazing. God’s love will do that!

Never believe the lie that your life doesn’t matter and that you can’t impact someones life. Every person’s influence touches and sticks to others—good or bad. God created you and I to be a sticky godly influence for Him. They may want cotton candy but you can give them something beyond their wildest dreams—the love of Jesus and the saving knowledge of His grace!

2 Cor 5:18-20 “…God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.”

In His love,
Pastor Tim Burt

If Fresh Manna is a blessing to you, I’d love to know. Click here: FreshMannaFeedback@gmail.com

If your heart has been touched by God’s love through Fresh Manna, would you like to help Pastor Tim reach others also? Please prayerfully consider donating. No gift is too small.