Over the last few months, I’ve written about how Proverbs helps us to gain not only a godly perspective on our own lives but also the influence required to lead others. Last week, The Gospel Coalition published a guest post I wrote on the topic of influence.
Paul’s recipe for influence was simple. It had two primary ingredients: hope and humility.
Paul divulges these not-so-secret keys to influential ministry in chapters 2 and 3 of 1 Thessalonians.
Humility means caring more about others than about yourself. It means being honest about your need for grace. It means refusing to trample others on the way to your own success or personal fulfillment….
Hope means believing God is at work through Christ, so anything can change for the better. It means approaching others’ sin with patience rather than anger and refusing to complain about everything that’s wrong with the world, instead thanking God for what’s still right. It means being honest about difficult things while remaining confident God will use them for good.
For a more detailed look at humility and hope, see the Proverbs series on this site. For a more condensed look at Paul’s employment of these traits in 1 Thessalonians, see the Gospel Coalition post.
Question: What other ingredients have you found to build influence in your leadership of others?
Another big theme in 1 Thessalonians is Paul’s genuine [parental and brotherly] affection, longing, and love for the believers there. It seems like this is a key piece of what motivates Paul as he seeks to encourage these people to keep following Christ in the midst of suffering. I would say that love for others is something that helps to build influence. As soon as we stop caring about people, I think they can sense that and might be less likely to listen.