You Are An Influencer

By: Jenifer Metzger

So, whether you eat or drink,
or whatever you do, do
everything for the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 10:31 CSB

I've been in the blogging world for fourteen years now and with blogging comes being an influencer. I remember the very first time an author reached out to me, just under a year into my blogging journey, and asked me to read her book and share it if I liked it. Ever since then, I have been sharing books I have read and learned from, and occasionally products I personally use and love.

I never set out to be an influencer. It wasn't what I wanted to do. I simply wanted to share what I was learning in my faith journey with anyone who happened to stumble across my corner of the internet. Yet, being a blogger and influencer go hand in hand.

But I am going to tell you a little secret. I hate the word influencer.

It's not that I actually hate the word influencer, it's just that I see this word probably fifty times a day, seven days a week. It is used over and over and over. And, let's be real, there are some influencers that are not completely honest about using or loving a product. So I get as little wore out from hearing the word influencer.

While the word itself wears me down a bit, the truth is I am an influencer. And guess what? So are you. Even if you never share a product or link on social media, you are an influencer.

You are influencing your world. Every day you influence those you come in contact with; family members, neighbors, co-workers, other moms in the school drop off, strangers at the grocery store, your social media friends, everyone you come in contact with is influenced by you in some way. The question is, what are you influencing them toward?

Let's play a little "would you rather."

Would you rather influence your neighbor to anger because you are constantly complaining about where they park their car or their loud music or would you rather influence them to grace because you offer grace to their offenses?

Would you rather influence your co-worker to gossip because you join in on the office gossip or would you rather influence them to kindness because you refuse to gossip and speak ill of someone?

Would you rather influence your family to being dishonest because you live one way at home and another in public or would you rather influence them to honesty because you are live out what you speak?

Would you rather influence your social media buddies to an funny video full of curse words that you posted or would you rather influence them to open their Bible because you posted a Scripture verse?

We could continue to play this little game for awhile, but I think you get the idea. Every thing you do and say influences someone. This means we need to be careful of what we do and what we say -this includes what we post online.

We are influencers, continually influencing someone. We just have to make the decision of what we want to influence others to. Sister, may we be women who influence those in our world to seek Christ! 

Discussion:
1. What has someone influenced you to recently; something to purchase, somewhere to go, or stance or attitude to take?
2. How can you make an intentional effort to be a good, Godly influencer this week?

from Woman to Woman
Umn ministry