Influence and Leadership

An English poet named John Donne once wrote, "No man is an island" (Meditation XVII). His poem expounds on the idea that each one of us affect one another. There is no one whose life does not influence other people.
Some Christians want to think that their life does not matter to anyone but themselves. They are not accountable to anybody else because "it's their life." They can do (or not do) whatever they want, because "it doesn't matter one way or the other."
However, Romans 14:7-8 gives a little different picture. "For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s." In the context of Romans 14, some Christians were arguing that it didn't matter what they did because it was just between them and God. Paul agrees that we are individually accountable to God (Rom 14:12), but that doesn't excuse us from the responsibility we have to others.
We do not live in a vacuum; our thoughts, attitudes, and actions affect those around us. Instead of living for ourselves and thinking that what we do doesn't affect others, we ought to live for the Lord. Our lives belong to him, and our goal should be to please him and affect others in a Christlike way.
You may be wondering what this has to do with you. When we talked about leadership in youth group a few weeks ago, we said that leadership was really influence. Each one of us influences those around us to do or say certain things. You may be thinking, "I'm not a leader because I'm not old enough, or popular enough, or outspoken enough." But you do exert influence on those around you. You either encourage others to do right by your example and words or you influence them to do wrong, but you are affecting others.