Experience and Excitement

What’s the last big piece of great news you shared with the world? Was it a raise or a promotion? An engagement? A baby announcement? Did you find a missing pet that ran away? Whenever we experience an occurrence as joyful as these, our greatest impulse is most often to share it.

Our excitement and joy just aren’t complete until we’re able to share them with someone else. Regardless of how “personal” an announcement it may be, we find so much more fulfillment when others are brought into the mix. This is why Romans 12:15 tells us to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep! But the thing about our walk with Christ is that it’s just as communal as it is personal. Here’s what it means for us to influence with love: that others may hear of His own great, everlasting love for us all.

Found Worthy in His Eyes

God has chosen us for His prized possession and cherished treasure. It was for our salvation and right relationship with Him that Christ took to the cross. This was the promise of the Messiah to which Israel clung. There was no criteria apart from His love and a faith imparted by His grace alone. We’ve been found worthy, lacking nothing, and counted as righteous in His eyes.

Deuteronomy 7:8 declares on the Lord’s behalf, “For you are a holy people belonging to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be his own possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.” This message of hope, belonging, and eternal security is ours for the taking. He chose us on purpose and for His purposes. In His fulfillment alone we find the meaning our souls desire.

Fulfillment in His Family

If the gospel is our good news—in fact, the best news and our greatest declaration—then it ought to be evident to those around us. And our influence to others—the aroma of Christ to a faltering world (2 Corinthians 2:15-17)—must be rooted in the proclamation of the hope, belonging, and eternal security that we have come to find in Him alone. We boast, not in ourselves but in the One who instills our worth.

This is what it means to influence with love for the sake of His love. May the realization of Christ’s love for us be the fuel of our discussion and the catalyst of our fervor. Let’s continue to bring others into the fold that our joy and excitement would find their fulfillment in the expansion of God’s family tree.

Now What?

Consider the influence you hold as one created in the image of God. What is it you most want to be known for? Is it a kingdom you’re building for yourself, or is it His kingdom you’re contributing to? Ask Him to make you aware of these spaces where your faith and fervor falter. Pray for the steadiness needed to recall His love and recount it, not only to yourself but to others in your circle of influence.