As Iron Sharpens Iron by Howard Hendricks

Author:Howard Hendricks
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Moody Publishers

A Man of Influence

I often hear older men complaining about the younger generation. But my question is, “What are you doing to impact a young person in a positive, Christlike way?” You cannot change everyone, but you can affect someone. You can be a man of influence.

It’s like the story that business titan Jack Eckerd tells of the man walking along a beach, who came upon a pitiful sight: thousands of beautiful starfish washed up by the tide, now drying and dying in the hot sun. So the man reached down, picked up one of the limp creatures, and flipped it back into the sea. He continued his walk in this manner, pausing every few feet to grab another starfish.

Presently another man came by and remarked on this curious activity. “Why are you doing that?” he asked.

“I’m trying to save the starfish,” the man replied.

At this, the other man laughed and swept his arm to indicate the thousands of starfish that littered the beach. “Why bother?” he said cynically. “It won’t make any difference.”

But even as he spoke, the beachcomber was tossing another starfish into the surf. He watched it disappear beneath the waves, then turned and said, “It made a difference for that one.”

There is probably little you or I can do to change the many looming factors that hinder us in our efforts to produce men of excellence today. But God is not asking us to save the whole world. That’s God’s responsibility. Our responsibility is to do the best we can to bring our own lives under Christ’s lordship and then influence the handful of people God brings our way to do the same. That will make a difference—maybe not for everyone, but at least for someone.

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