The other day I received an email from a local shoe store encouraging me to click on a link to see how social media “influencers” are wearing a particular pair of trendy boots. Let’s just say as I am solidly into my 50s, these boots would look ridiculous on me. My husband would check for signs of a midlife crisis.

Who influences you? Celebrities or sports stars or pretty people on social media? In contrast, let’s look at Jesus. The prophet Isaiah says, “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him” (53:2). It sounds like Jesus was the kind of guy you could pass on the street without giving him a second glance. Can you imagine the architect and Lord of the universe looking like any other 30-something guy of the day but without a permanent roof over his head or a penny to his name?

But what an influence he had. The Son of God started a movement that began as a small spark in a corner of the world, and that spark has grown and spread into a roaring blaze across time and space. It is estimated that there are about two billion professing Christians among the more than seven billion people in our world. Talk about an eternal influence!

You can be an influencer too. You can influence your small corner of the world. You can faithfully and persistently share the message of the gospel in your home, workplace, and neighborhood, one relationship and conversation at a time.