One Link in the Chain

Do you know how influential you really are?

Every day, in everything we say and do, we are influencing people spiritually, either helping them move toward or away from a relationship with Christ.

A person’s journey toward Christ is not one giant leap but many small steps of faith influenced by an average of 16 people, individual links in a chain of spiritual influence.

Becoming a spiritually influential person isn’t about convincing people to pray a prayer of faith in Christ. It’s about intentionally joining the Holy Spirit’s work, respectfully helping them take one more step toward Christ, whether they are at the beginning, in the middle, or at the culmination of their spiritual journey.

Every interaction you have with people counts for eternity. You may be the next link in someone’s chain. You don’t have to be the entire chain. Just don’t be the missing link.

Who are you helping move toward Christ? Remember everything counts.

Economic Decisions and Moral Consequences

I highly recommend a subscription to Comment from the Canadian think tank Cardus. In a recent article Bruce Webb commented on Pope Benedict’s latest social encyclical,  Caritas in Veritate (“Charity, or Love, in Truth”).

While one of Benedict’s proposed solutions is quite concerning, there are a number of points we should take to heart. Here is Webb’s comment on one that struck me as important.

We should also ponder carefully the claim that “every economic decision has a moral consequence.” How many of us take the time to consider seriously the moral consequences of our economic decisions to spend, invest or work at a particular job and for a particular company? Christians should devote more time to learning about the ways in which our economic actions either serve or fail to serve the common good and the well being of the poor.

The fact is that what we buy, where we invest, and who we work for does impact others. And in a global economy, our stewardship impacts a lot of people.

What do you think?