“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” – Dr. Seuss
Have you ever stopped to think about how many things contribute to the person that you are today? You and I have been influenced and continue to be influenced by all sorts of things around us. Our very own senses contribute to the push and pull of the choices we make each day. Sometimes those influences lead us astray, which is why we need trustworthy people to step up and use their voice and actions to be the kind of influence that we need.
Dr. Seuss was not the only one who understood this idea; in fact, the good doctor’s idea is one that Jesus Himself personified. Did Jesus care? Well, He lowered Himself, Hebrews says, “so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.” (2:9) Jesus did not just care, He used His influence to demonstrate the greatest form of love that exists so that we could find life.
God’s prophets frequently called on people to live out their influence. I referenced this past week Jeremiah who said, “And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (31:34) Is Jeremiah saying that we should not use our influence to teach others the truth about God? No! Rather he is prophesying of a day when because of the great love that God displays to his own people, that there would be a ripple effect that would spread to all. God’s love is the greatest of influencers and can be shared not just by words but also by actions.
The question I am wrestling with, and I hope you will consider also, is do I care enough to share the love that I claim so radically influences my own life? If you have been influenced by the love of Jesus, my encouragement is that you will display for all to see how you have been influenced. When we are influenced by the love of God, it should permeate into every facet of our life. If God’s love doesn’t break into the world through us then “[the world around us] is not going to get better. It’s not.”
