The greatest influencer of all time is Jesus Christ! even ranker.com asserts it. On a list of 100 influencers, Jesus is at the top of the list.
It is not only because He is at the top of this list that He is an influencer, but because His life reflects the Top 10 qualities of an Influencer; He is the all-time influencer.
His life has affected the lives of millions upon millions of people.
In this post, I want us to see how His life mirrors these Top 10 qualities of an influencer; and How you can Be an influencer like Him!
Integrity with People
Jesus is a man of integrity. He keeps to His word, you can depend on Him; He is reliable because His source is reliable. From the scriptures, we see Him always doing what He promised.
Jesus’ life models a life of consistent and unyielding honesty and upholding of moral principles and values. He is the perfect example of integrity. There is nowhere in the Bible that Jesus is reported of compromising His moral principles rather you see Him standing strong for the truth.
In Matthew 22:16-22 (NIV), the Pharisees in an attempt to fault Him acknowledged that He is a man of integrity “Master, we know you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by men. because you pay no attention to who they are…”
They wanted to know His position regarding paying taxes. His answer to them was proof of His being a man of integrity- “Give to Ceasar what is Ceasar’s and unto God what is God”
In other words, He was saying, be a man of integrity, obey the laws of the land and obey God’s laws. Do not compromise any standards. To be an influencer like Jesus, you must be a man of integrity.
Nurtures Other People
Jesus cares for people. That’s why He left all the glory and pleasures of heaven to come to die in your place and in my place.
Not only does He care for you and I. He also cared for His disciples, He cares for the sick and weary.
When Jesus learned about the death of His cousin -John the Baptist, He was naturally sad and probably wanted to take some time to mourn His cousin but as He arrived at the mountainside, He saw the people following Him and He was moved with compassion for them. Immediately, He forgot His own sorrow and instead cared for the people. He healed their sick taught them and then fed them. (See Matthew 14:1-21)
You must patiently care for and nurture people if you want to be an influencer like Jesus.
Faith In People
Although Jesus was “God in man”; He was the embodiment of perfection, He still believed in people. He knows your weaknesses yet He does not doubt the abilities He put in you.
Many of His disciples were lowly in society. A good number of them were uneducated fishermen yet He gave them the power to do great things. Such that after He died and rose again, the council of elders upon hearing His disciples speak marveled because they knew they were uneducated men.
The distinguishing factor was that they had been with Jesus. He had so much faith in them that, He gave room for the greatness in them to manifest. (See Acts 4:13)
Believe the best about the people around you- that’s what Jesus does
Listens to People
There is no better listener than Jesus.
He listens to the words you speak but much more than that, He listens to your heart. Like He did in the house of Simon the Pharisee who invited him to dinner(See Luke 7:36-50)
When you are a listener like Jesus, automatically you will be an influencer like Jesus
Understands People
Another quality of a person of Influence is the ability to understand people.
Jesus’ life mirrors this quality perfectly.
He understands the ways of men. He knows how people think, what they feel, what inspires them, how they will likely act in any situation.
As a person who understands people, He always looked at other people’s perspectives when dealing with them. He had a positive attitude about people and empathy for people.
Enlarges People
Jesus kept helping His disciples improve their lives- He mentored them and helped them stir up their potentials to reality. That is how a person of influence enlarges people.
Simon Peter was named reed- a weakling. But Jesus saw the great leader in him and mentored Him and called forth that potential to manifestation. (See Matthew 16:18)
Take time to identify the potentials in the people around you; when you help them bring their potentials to reality, you are influencing their lives like Jesus.
Navigates For People
Jesus and His disciples performed many miracles but there were also many obstacles in their path.
A navigator helps people through the process of solving their problems. That was who Jesus was.
When His disciples were at sea and there was a storm, He showed them how to solve the problem-Faith in God.
Also when they needed to feed the 5000+ crowd of listeners, Jesus did not settle for the “easy way out” the disciples offered- ” Let’s ask them to go”. Instead, He showed them how to solve the problem-Faith in God.
Don’t run away from challenges, you can be an influencer like Jesus when you teach people to turn their setbacks into victories.
Connects with People
Jesus made people feel at home when around Him. He showed them how much He cared for them such that He would eat with sinners, unlike the Pharisees. This endeared Him to their heart and resulted in massive conversions.
He was able to influence people by connecting with them. In Luke 19:1-10, Jesus asked Zacchaeus to come down from the tree so that He could go to his house to dine with Him. When Zacchaeus’ saw such love and how he was appreciated and valued, he willing repented.
Connecting with people guarantees your being able to impact their lives. It is a sure way to be an influencer like Jesus.
Empowers People
In Luke 10:1-20, Jesus gave His influence and authority to His disciples to go and do great exploits in the lives of people. The disciples returned with so much excitement about what they were able to do.
This did not reduce Jesus’ authority one bit, rather it increased His influence on the people.
Although He is not here physically, He has given you and me that same authority. (Matthew 10:1) He has empowered us and so is able to work through us to achieve great results
Don’t be scared to give your authority to people because it is one key way to be an influencer like Jesus
Reproduces Other Influencers
“Go and make disciple of all nation…” (Matthew 28:19-20) This was Jesus’ last command to His disciples before He returned to Heaven.
He knows that the only way an influencer can really expand His impact is by multiplying Himself in others. This is what Jesus did by asking His disciples to go and make more disciples.
This explains why His influence is still so great even after going back to God over 2000 years ago.
If you want to impact the world; you want to influence people positively and leave your footprints in the sands of time then cultivate these 10 qualities in your life.
These tips are based on John C. Maxwell’s bestselling book, Becoming a Person of Influence, to help you on your journey to becoming a world-changing influencer!
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