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“Your Sphere of Influence”

In today’s Scripture from 2 Corinthians, the apostle Paul tells us that every man has a sphere of in­fluence.

You have a sphere, an orbit, of geographical boundaries where you live your life. You live in a zip code, and in the morning—if you’re not working from home—you may drive to work in another zip code. You may go to church in even another zip code. For work or a vacation, sometimes you may travel outside your sphere to another state or another country. But you always come home to your sphere.

Inside that sphere arepeople. People you know and care about. People you love and who love you. Your wife, kids, friends, grandparents, cousins, boss, coworkers, and others.

That’s your sphere of influence.

That sphere begins with your family. That’s your central work and your primary place of nation building. It may be just you and your wife and your kids, but how big will your nation be in a hundred years, when you’re with the Lord? Because you are following the Lord Jesus and are a citizen of His kingdom, your most important work is to fulfill the Great Commission (see Matthew 28:18-20). The heart of the Great Commission is to “make disciples” (verse 19). A disciple is a Christ follower.

That starts with your nation, your sphere, and your influ­ence.

And where does it end? Only God knows.

Jesus once told His disciples, “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden” (Mat­thew 5:14,nlt). If you have really launched a new nation with Jesus as King and God’s Word as your constitution, and if you have raised the banner of heaven up your family flagpole, you won’t be able to hide. You’re an alien. Your neighbors and coworkers will see it. People moving by you in the dark, people you don’t know and may never even meet, will see the lights of your city-state and wonder at it.

There is no way to measure the impact of a strong, happy Christian family on our dark and disillusioned contempo­rary culture.

And it all begins with one man.

You.

What changes might you need to make in order for your family—and not secondary interests—to be at the center of your influence?