You, however, know all about my teaching, my way of life, my purpose, faith, patience, love, endurance. I Timothy 3:10
Satan can turn a good trait into a bad trait by getting us to emphasize the wrong things. Achievement is a good word. But when we use it to squeeze others dry we have fallen into Satan’s trap. Relationship is a good trait. When we turn it into some form of manipulation we again fall into Satan’s trap.
Power is sometimes thought of as a bad word. When used to run rough shod over others it can become evil. But power in terms of influence is a good word. Notice in the verse above what Paul tells Timothy what he already knows. He is fully aware of the way Paul lived before him and others in Ephesus and wherever he went.
Paul was a persuasive-power-machine. (II Corinthians 5:11) Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. It would have been evil NOT to have used his power. Satan could have turned that power to evil had Paul been lead to use his power for his own purposes. But Paul was not ignorant of Satan’s devices. (II Corinthians 2:11)
Paul always used the love of God to persuade men to come to Jesus. For Christ’s love compels us. (II Corinthians 5:14) He understood Lincoln’s adage, “You can catch more bees with a teaspoon of honey that a bucket of spit.”
We can follow Paul, and other great men of the Bible and the past, in leading many to Christ. We can take pleasure in seeing someone travel the road to recovery and personal balance. We can love to see men and women come to Jesus as we use our influence in a powerful way for the Lord.
It is a godly way of life when we use our abilities to persuade others to live for Jesus. There is someone in your acquaintance that is waiting for your power to persuade them to be all that they can be for God.