At one time or another during our growing-up years, we may have been told to be a good influence. This could have meant modeling good behavior or even gently steering someone in the right direction.

This ability to produce certain effects on the behavior of others is generally thought to be dependent on our own will or personal power. And while that is what appears to be behind the work of many of today’s social media influencers, it is not true influence according to Christian Science. In fact, Mary Baker Eddy, the Discoverer of Christian Science, brought out the most profound sense of the term when she wrote about “a divine influence ever present in human consciousness” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. xi).

Mrs. Eddy was describing Christ—the true idea of God that Jesus embodied—and its healing, saving power, which is still transforming hearts today. To the degree that we allow Christ, Truth, to be foremost in our thoughts, we become an influence for good. Not personally dominating or manipulating others but benignly adding to the mental atmosphere in ways that uplift and spiritualize it.