Articles
THE POWER OF OUR SILENT INFLUENCE
On a recent beautiful warm Saturday morning, a Christian friend and I were having breakfast at a local restaurant. At a nearby table, we noticed a young woman sitting quietly reading her Bible. She was absorbed in the text, occa-sionally looking up to consider what she had read. She never said a word, but her heart and priorities were visible to everyone in that restaurant. It was a gentle, positive, and silent influence.
She was not ashamed of Christ nor of His New Testament (Hebrews 9:11-15 KJV). She neither preached a sermon nor sang a song. She was willing to be identified with the Savior, yet she did not need to announce that alle-giance.
In our attempts to share the message of Jesus, we must eventually use words, because ultimately words are needed to present the gospel (John 14:23; Acts 2:14 KJV; Acts 11:11-14 KJV; Acts 16:14 ESV; 2 Peter 3:1-2 KJV; Jude 1:17 KJV). But we can also learn from the example of this wom-an.
There are times when the quietness of our everyday actions speak louder than our words, revealing our love for the Lord (Philippians 1:21-27). In our desire to share Christ with a sinful world, let’s not ignore the power of our silent influence (cf. 1 Thessalonians 1:5-8). - Mike Riley
