A Man Of Influence || Emmanuel A. Oduntan

 If I told you that a man of influence is way better than a man of riches, you may want to disagree. Even though influence and riches are almost synonymous, they represent different ideologies. A man of riches may be influential, but an influential man can never be stranded. The edge an influential man has is that the "influence" the man of riches may have isn't genuine because it is attached to money. People can do anything for money, yet the scary truth is, money cannot save all of the time.

True, the Holy Bible says "but money answereth all things" (Ecc.10.19b) but again, the same Bible says that "Riches won't help on the day of judgment, but right living can save you from death (Prov.11:4).

Have you ever been in a situation where, though, you have money but it just cannot help?

Or

Your car broke down on a lonely bushy road, you cannot fix it and you're stuck?

Or

You're seriously sick and shivering. You can barely lift your limbs. Like life is slowly dripping out of you and all you need is someone to get you to the hospital or pray for you?

.......

During my service year, I was posted to an interior rural settlement. You know those areas where you cannot get network reception except by "prayer and fasting". An area where you hardly see 3 cars in a day.

I suppose now you get the picture.

Those places where wealth didn't really matter. Only people, only love, in it's purest form, particularly does. It is a community, not where one person rides Nissan Murano or owns Mikano generator and his neighbour is poor and hungry. Not where one person has a mansion and the next door neighbour lives in a hut. Not that these good things are bad. Certainly not the point. There was simply no competition. There was no one to brag or prove to. It's a community where you do not lack help. Where they don't have it all, maybe they don't even have anything.... physically, but they know and have themselves, with contentment and happiness. Barely can you go hungry in their midst because they're ready to share even the least of what they have. You can almost grasp that Joy from their midst. It's that tangible.

Do you feel the blessedness of when you're in trouble, you have people to call? 

When you're stuck in a quagmire and you know who to reach out to? 

When money doesn't really matter?

When it's care, love and sincere attention you need, not just because you have cash?

When you need honest criticism and you can get it?

Such blessedness money cannot buy. It comes freely to the man of influence

Being influential is living and caring for your neighbour, knowing well that you will also need it someday. To be influential is to be loving and being lovable.

S/he is a person of significance. 

That is the blessed person.

𝐁𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧