Who Is Standing in Your Shadow?

Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day – full of hope, opportunity, and promise! – begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama! I cherish this time; the quiet and peace of a new day as the world begins to wake up! 😊

Early this week I listened to a message from Life.Church that strongly resonated with me for reasons that I believe will be painfully obvious! 😊 It was a message titled, “Influence is Powerful – The Power of a Shadow,” and it was preached by Pastor Pierre du Plessis on June 30, 2019. You can watch the full message on YouTube by simply searching the title of the sermon…I would strongly encourage you to do so!

This morning I simply want to share some notes I took on the sermon and share some thoughts with you.

Pastor du Plessis started off by talking about the fact that we all cast a shadow – what he is talking about is our spheres of influence. He encourages us to think about the people in our shadows – spouses, children, co-workers, and friends, and what he calls the accidental – people at the gym or the coffee shop that you see over and over again. He notes that while we might think they are “accidental,” they, in fact, might be divine. He notes that people in our shadows are watching us closely and asking if that is what they want to become.

Pastor du Plessis noted 5 things about all our shadows:

1. Your shadow is influential whether you want it to be or not. In other words, the life you are living is influencing others whether you want it to or not. This should both inspire and scare us!
2. Your shadow is always consistent with your life. If that doesn’t cause us to pause, I don’t know what will! He talked about reflection vs. projection. Our shadow reflects the lives we live, who we really are. It does not project the “perfect life” we put on social media. He sums it up quite well; “Your shadow will never betray your heart.”
3. An impactful shadow comes from God’s ongoing work in our lives. Perhaps you are not a Bible believing person so I will say it another way; your shadow comes from the ongoing work of the people’s shadows that you stand within. Someone or something is impacting who you are – what or who is it? For those of us who are Christians and desire to live a Christ-centered life, let me sum this up with a rhetorical question Pastor du Plessis asked; “When people look at you do they see the fingerprints of the Potter in your life?”
4. Our greatest impact does not come from access to many but access to few. In other words, you don’t have to stand on a stage and speak to thousands to have an impact. In fact, it is the connection we have with a few in our lives on a daily basis that has the potential for the greatest impact. Pastor du Plessis brings up a great point; impact happens when we are up close. Impact happens when we are doing life with people.
5. Obeying His impulse and taking the risk of the 7 second moments in your life. You know those moments when you see a person and you think, “I should… [buy them a coffee, help, offer a kind word, etc.]” If you are like most of us, you have had these thoughts and almost immediately, we start talking to ourselves; “What if I look stupid?” or “What if they don’t want me to help?” Pastor du Plessis then offers this soul inspiring observation; “God will always meet you on the edge where faith and risk meet in the shadow.”

Pretty powerful stuff, isn’t it? I want to spend just a moment talking about points 4 and 5.

Our greatest impact does not come from access to many but access to few. Who are those people that you interact with daily? I am not talking about your family members, though hopefully they are our first and highest priority, but rather the people that you regularly see at the gym, the coffee shop, on your walk, etc. Please, don’t take them for granted but rather let’s genuinely cherish them. Let’s be extremely thoughtful about how we treat and interact with them for this, in fact, may be our greatest ministry. Do you know why? Because the shadow we cast, the influence we have, not only impacts the person standing in our shadow but also every single person that stand in their shadow. You see Friends, it is not just about you and me or the people that we are directly impacting – it is so much bigger than us! It would be wise to really think about, and be intentional, in every interaction.

Obeying His impulse and taking the risk of the 7 second moments in your life. I still remember, vividly, one of these impulses I did not follow. It was Valentine’s Day, and I was at the store to buy my Beautiful Bride some flowers. A very sweet elderly lady was in front of me. We started chatting and over and over again she said things like, “Those are beautiful flowers,” “I like flowers,” “It is so nice to get flowers.” And I got the impulse, “Give her the flowers.” Was she a widow? Did she have a family? What if she thinks I am weird? And on and on the questions raced through my mind until the 7 seconds, the opportunity, had passed. I did not take the risk and to this day I still think of that sweet woman. Perhaps she would have thought I was weird but so what? Perhaps the person you and I feel convicted to help or talk to doesn’t even act like they care…that is not the point. The point is to take the risk and give God the opportunity to meet us on the edge where faith and risk meet in the shadow. As Pastor du Plessis said,

“The saddest thing is for us to live invisible, forgettable lives. That at the end of our life, whether we were alive or not, does not matter.”

You and I will cast a shadow today, Friends. Our shadows will reflect who we really are and those living in it will be impacted – for good or bad. I pray we will let the Potter mold us today, that we will be attentive to His impulses, and that we will genuinely cherish every precious soul we are blessed to cross paths with today!

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, please cherish your precious family, and please stay well! 😊

Kev