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Hey everyone, I'm Mark Foley, and this is The Journey. I think a lot about the effective use of influence, the ability to have an effect on the character or the development or the behavior of someone or something for good among a community of people. Through the years at the University of Mobile, we described our work as developing men and women of character who have mastered a body of knowledge according to the degree they earned, who know how to think, who know what they believe and why they believe it, who have the courage to live and work according to their beliefs, and who have the willingness and the skill to use their influence in appropriate and effective ways to change the world around them. That was a lot more than just a catchy phrase. It drove and shaped the university culture and still drives my thinking and hope about people. Influence is a powerful tool. And like any power tool, it requires instruction in its safe and best use. So give me the next few minutes and let me talk about something really important. Your use of influence. Occasionally I run across someone who doesn't think they have much influence. Yeah, you do. Someone is watching you, someone is shaping their thought or their actions or even their understanding of rightness about things based upon what they see you do or hear you say. So it's not a question of if you have influence. It is very much a question of how you use it. And that implies motivation and responsibility. The motivation part is easy to describe. Generally speaking, your use of influence will be motivated either by self-interest or by your interest in the benefit of another person. Now there might be a narrow space between self and other for mutual benefit, but here's the reality. Human nature being what it is, and if you're honest, your use of influence is usually for you, or something you want, or something you think is so right that it should be required for everyone. Now here's the tricky part, and I want to be careful with this. It is really easy and really convenient to mask self-interest as being good for someone else. And at that point, influence all too easily becomes a tool for personal gain. And you don't have to look far into American society to see clear evidence of that happening, driven by political or religious or racial or economic zeal, or simply by a lust for power. So when we talk about motivation for the effective and proper use of this very powerful tool of influence, discerning the difference between that which is driven by self-interest and that which is genuinely for the good of others becomes a critical element. And it's an essential element for one who desires to follow Christ on his terms. One of the core teachings of Jesus had to do with this very subject: self-interest versus genuine care for others. There was a day when a man interrupted Jesus. The story is recorded in Luke chapter 10. Also in Matthew 22 and Mark 12, if you want to go take a look. This man was an expert in the religious traditions of his day. And his intent was to trick Jesus into saying something that would give the religious leaders reason to discredit him. So he asked Jesus a question. Okay, it's a fair question and an important one. But Jesus, knowing the man's intent, responded, You tell me what do the traditions say? Quickly and confidently, the man answered, You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and all your strength, and all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself. Right answer, Jesus said. But the man had an agenda unrelated to his question. So he asked Jesus a second question. And who is my neighbor? Now here's a little context. That same self-interest culture that we experience now was alive and well then. It was even supported by the prevailing religious tradition of the day. Responsibility to care for others extended only to those who look like me, think like me, and act like me. Sound familiar? Jesus knew how the man was thinking. And he responded with a story about motivation and responsibility in the use of influence. Here's the story in the words of Jesus. A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, they beat him up, and they left him half dead beside the road. By chance a priest came along, but when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. A temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there. But he also passed by on the other side. Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, Take care of this man, and if the bill runs higher than this, I'll pay you next time I'm here. Jesus ended the story and asked his inquisitor, Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man that was attacked by the bandits? The man replied, The one who showed him mercy. Then Jesus said, Right, now you go and do the same. Jesus made the point that the traditions of religion and society, even your personal history, can become blinders to your responsibility to demonstrate love and care for those around you. He sharpened the point by identifying the hero, the Samaritan traveler, as being from a people group that was seriously estranged from the Jewish people of that day. The two groups were taught to have no dealings with one another. Then he contrasted the Samaritan to the two highly respected religious leaders, the priest and the temple assistant, who refused to help one of their own. So let's talk about the influence of the Samaritan man's action. A lot of folk talk about the need for a healthy community, but it will take more than an exchange of rhetoric. It requires an attitude adjustment. There were three attitudes demonstrated in the story that Jesus told. The first attitude was demonstrated by the attackers. What is yours is mine, and I will take it. It is the most dangerous attitude of the three, and it is an extreme expression of self-interest. The first attitude naturally extends to the absence of moral restraint. I want it, and if I want it, I have a right to it, and I'll take it regardless of legal or moral boundaries. Sadly, the first attitude is rapidly becoming a common way of thinking in American society. It's represented in politics, in business dealings, in common civil interactions between people and in family relationships. It's the source of crime data, daily news, and unchecked, the first attitude will rip our community and our nation apart. The second attitude was that of the two religious leaders. What is mine is mine, and I will keep it. It too is a clear reflection on the dominance of self-interest in our culture. Though not as extreme as the first attitude, the second attitude is the prominent operational attitude of American culture. It too is very dangerous, for it breeds increasing levels of insular thinking that diverts from responsible attention to the best interest of people around us, family members, neighbors, colleagues, customers, employees, even the unknown person with whom you are competing for that primo parking place near the door at the Target store. The second attitude is a quiet killer. It is the social cancer that quietly displaces visionary thought, stalls inventive action, depletes effectiveness in organizations, increases the expense of doing business, limits healthy development. It is the homeostatic tendency that kills hope, that destroys organizational health, and its unchecked dominance signals the eventual death of a community or an organization. You see its tracks in boarded businesses, blighted neighborhoods, decreased population, and bloated bureaucratic systems as personal responsibility is lost among us. The second attitude will always be found in the post-mortem DNA examination of any failed organization or community. The third attitude was that of the traveling Samaritan. What is mine is yours, and I will give it. Note that the Samaritan stranger placed no conditions on the extension of aid. It was free of bias, free of social condition, and it required nothing in return. The third attitude is the least discussed in most organizations, and yet it is the most powerful transformational element available to any relationship, any family, any government, any business, any organization, any community. The third attitude breaks down social barriers. It rushes past doubt. It bridges divisions. It creates hope. It ignites ripples of relational healing that radiate with such speed and such power as to leave those who experience it in awe. The third attitude opens the door to mutual discovery of solution in an organization of people. And that one simple concept, multiplied in a business, in a government, in a family, or in a community, creates desired change. It enables rediscovery of responsibility thinking, responsibility to God, responsibility for others, and voluntary sacrifice for greater good. So what is it about the third attitude? This idea of what is mine is yours, I will give it. How is it so powerful, so transforming? Well, it's simple, really. And it has to do with our created nature. God made each of us with a powerful need to be significant to someone or for something, to have purpose and worth. And when that need is met, we by design respond positively. Simply put, we are hardwired from the factory to respond positively to genuine love, to genuine care, genuine honor, and genuine kindness. So when you act out the third attitude to your spouse or to your child, to your customer, to your colleague, or to the lady in the Taco Bell drive-thru, when you genuinely place his or her well-being ahead of your own, you will have just endorsed the significance and worth of that person. I promise you. You'll get a quizzical look, a nod, and eventually a smile. For in that moment, you will have met the deepest of needs in that person. The third attitude closes distance between people. Now let's get back to influence, the ability to have an effect on the character or the development or the behavior of someone or something. In the story Jesus told, a great deal of influence was exercised, most of it negative. But when the Samaritan traveler exercised care to the injured Jewish man, the stage was set for extraordinary influence. The moment of influence occurred not when the Samaritan stopped, not when he rendered aid, not when he ensured the continued care for the injured man. The moment of transformational influence occurred when the injured man realized who had saved his life. A man he had been taught all his life to hate, had valued him and endorsed his worth. And I'll promise you, his thinking was changed forever. The commendation of Christ is to the third attitude. It is an attitude that imitates his love, that demonstrates responsibility for others and voluntary sacrifice for greater good. And it changes everything it touches. If you want change in your city, in your nation, in your business, in your marriage, in your relationship, imitate Jesus to it. One need at a time. What is mine is yours, and I will give it. It will require thought. It will require intentionality. It will require practice. And it will create change that will absolutely amaze you. So get it right. A nation's at stake. Hey, thanks for checking in. Be sure to check the website, Protective Solutions.today. There's a new journey devotional post every morning. And we'll see you next time.