Influence Isn’t Grace

Grace is completely free.
There’s nothing you and I can do to earn it.
It’s readily available because it’s provided free of charge by an Awesome God.

Influence MUST be earned.

I don’t have the right to speak to certain issue in certain people’s lives.
I don’t know them well enough.
I haven’t earned the respect and credibility with them.

Other people I can speak to those same issues in their lives.
I know them.
I have the respect from them.

Some people have the right to call me out when they find me doing certain things.
I won’t take offense.
I’ll listen.

Some people don’t have that right.
They don’t know what I’ve been through… they don’t have a close relationship with me.

You and I have to be careful not to speak into someone something that we haven’t earned the right to speak.
I also have to be careful that I speak life and truth into people who I’ve earned the right to speak with.

It’s a careful balance.

The more I balance it correctly, the more right I earn to speak into lives.

Influence…. It’s important, but it isn’t free.