Purpose in PromotionSample

Favor and Influence

Each of us was born for significance. We were born for promotion, and stewarding favor well is at the core of the process of promotion. God has more significant designs for us than would naturally enter our hearts or minds. His plan really is beyond all we could ask or think. But there’s a catch. Ill-used favor works against the very purpose for which it was given. Blessings add to our lives; misused blessings subtract.

Herein lies my favorite insight into the proper use of the gift called favor. The Queen of Sheba prophesied over Solomon with these words: “Blessed be the Lord your God who delighted in you to set you on the throne of Israel; because the Lord loved Israel forever, therefore He made you king, to do justice and righteousness” (1 Kings 10:9). This is one of the most important insights about promotion and favor. God had unusual favor on Solomon and gave him one of the ultimate promotions in position and personal experience of anyone ever to live. The reason for this unprecedented level of God’s favor was that God loved Israel. This is stunning! God gives favor to individuals because of His love for those under their influence. The implication of this truth is significant: the favor upon our lives must be used to benefit those around us, or it is misused favor. 

Kings Matter to God

We live at a time when people of means or position are the target of much malice, criticism, and suspicion. It’s deserving in part. But only in a small part. Not everyone rises to high places of society and culture because of sin, manipulation, and robbery. Many people have started with humble means, but they obeyed God and have risen to positions of rule, authority, and influence. God didn’t promote them so they would fail. He did so because He entrusted them with the resources to lead and serve well. 

God promoted them according to the promise of His Word. They deserve our respect and honor, if for no other reason than they were made in the image of God. It’s interesting to note that many of them didn’t even know they were obeying God when they made courageous decisions. They just responded to the wisdom that God had put in their hearts for their promotion. The gift came with the position. 

The “kings of the earth”—the people of extraordinary influence—are the hardest to influence. And yet God cares for them as much as He does for the most broken among us. In fact, many of the richest in the world are the poorest inside—and they know it. But they also know that countless numbers of people would like to be their friends because they want something from them.

This challenge is recorded well in Proverbs 19.

Wealth makes many friends, but the poor is separated from his friend . . . Many entreat the favor of the nobility, and every man is a friend to one who gives gifts. All the brothers of the poor hate him; How much more do his friends go far from him! He may pursue them with words, yet they abandon him.

—Proverbs 19:4, 6–7, NKJV

Proverbs, the book that equips us to reign in life, addresses the problem of touching royalty in ways that illustrate integrity. The phrase that stands out to me is that you might “stand before kings” (Prov. 22:29). There it is, God’s desire. God has a method to promote the average person into a place of influence with those outside our typical circle of influence. This should capture the attention of us all, as this reveals a purpose for promotion: influence beyond reason. 

May all the kings of the earth praise you, LORD, when they hear what you have decreed. May they sing of the ways of the LORD, for the glory of the LORD is great—Psalm 138:4, NIV