[Difference Makers] Diverse Dining Sample

Difference Makers Impact Widely Because They Live Deeply

In the book, When a Nation Forgets God, Pastor Erwin Lutzer wrote: 

I believe that the spiritual climate of America will never be changed unless we have . . . ordinary people living authentically for Christ in their vocations, among their neighbors, and in positions of influence. We cannot look to a [leader] or even a movement as much as to the common person who is committed to Christ and living for Him. 

I love the thought that it is ordinary people, not just leaders or Billy Graham or Christian music artists, who are the difference makers. But you do not have a public ministry that is really good and true if you do not have some private depth. In my own life, my prayerfulness on my knees is a greater increase of the effectiveness of any message I give than my skill as a speaker or the witty things I say. To be difference makers, we must have a wideness, but also private depth. We must be in deep relationship with the Lord to be effective for Him. Difference makers impact widely because they live deeply.

In his book Orthodoxy, author G. K. Chesterton wrote, “It is always simple to fall; there are an infinity of angles at which one falls, only one at which one stands.” You can fall backwards, forwards, or sideways, but there’s only one where you can remain standing. The disciples stand only with Jesus. Our strength, our gas in the engine, is not the wideness of our ministry but the depth of our life with God.

Do you see what difference makers do? Difference makers dine with diversity, but stand in love and in great clarity. You don’t have to condone. You don’t have to condemn. But you do have to be clear about Jesus, especially in an ambiguous, crazy society. 

God did not put you in your workplace just so you could make some money, but so you could make a difference. You will likely spend more time at the office than anywhere else; don’t waste your time there. Wherever God has placed you, you can make a difference. But remember: difference makers impact widely because they live deeply. Go deep in your relationship with God.

Pray: Jesus, even though I am an ordinary person, help me to live authentically for You.