Difference Makers

In the heart of every person, in the very essence of their being, is the need to matter. Some people want to be loved. Some people want others to know they are loved. Some people just want to do things that will ensure they will not be forgotten. In some way or in some fashion, we all want to make a difference.

You can make a difference in words. Words of encouragement in their proper time change lives. When a young man gets up for the first time to serve in worship, the right recognition of what he has done will make him want to do it again. Most preachers will tell you that the reason why they are preaching has much to do with people who voiced a belief in their ability to minister.

You can mae a difference in actions. One of the greatest things that was ever done for me was actually done for my father. When he first lost his ability to see well, two of our neighbor's boys showed up at our house, and without even knocking, they mowed our yard. I will never forget that act of kindness. It reminded me that we had friends, and that my father was not going to go through his adjustment alone.

You can make a difference in example. People are often mistaken in thinking that you have to be well known, or somehow very prominent for your example to matter. But I can tell you that people who have had the greatest influence in my life by way of example are people who the majority of the world will never know. The person who is always kind...The person who nevers misses worship...The person who does what they say they are going to do...The person who has never and will never say something negative about somebody else...The person who is unselfish.

When I think of the passing of Jim Bill McInteer this week, I am reminded that he was a difference maker. He changed the world and helped to shape the church for the better. He did it with the right words, with the right actions, and with the right example. "...Do you not know that a prince and a great man has fallen this day in Israel?" (2 Sam. 3:38).

"You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men." ~ Matthew 5:13