Can I Really Make a Difference?

A Reminder that God Uses Ordinary People for Extraordinary Change

For this week’s DTFR, we will be taking a break from 2 Timothy and considering the reality that God uses ordinary people to bring about extraordinary change. My prayer is that it will inspire you to live your life with a renewed and relentless resolve to glorify God and make His name known throughout all the earth. Happy reading!

Utter Despair, Righteous Anger, Renewed Resolve

For many of you, the past couple of weeks have been filled with days of sorrow and heartache. From the cruel and unexpected public murder of Charlie Kirk, a school shooting in Denver, an innocent Ukrainian killed in plain sight, and the senseless, unexpected, and utterly heartbreaking murder of a dear friend, now more than ever, we feel, see, and mourn the effects of living in an irretrievably broken world.

For some of us, maybe all the tragedy and trial has led us to a point of despair. We feel like hope is lost and that true change cannot come. For some of us, maybe we feel a strong sense of anger. Passionate, furious, and fiery anger, some of it righteous, some of it maybe tainted with our understandable yet sinful lusts for vengeance. For some of us, maybe the recent events have re-ignited our passion to make a difference. The fires that were once dim have burst into flames through the oil of injustices and wrongdoings. If ever we had a reason to fight faithfully, it is now.

For me personally, the latter has been my emotional response to the tragic events of late. There has been a renewed resolve to make a difference. A renewed resolve to walk in my God-given purpose with zeal and endurance. A desire not to waste my life. A resolve not to squander my time on things of unimportance and a desire to see glimmers of hope, change, and gospel transformation in the people and places around me. It is the desire to really make a difference.

Does What I Do Matter?

However, there are times when against the backdrop of all the evil and problems of our world, my day-to-day attempts at faithfulness and obedience can seem like pennies given towards a debt of evil that exceeds billions. Recently, I, and maybe you too, have been asking the question, does what I do really matter? Can my life really help to turn the tide of evil in our world? Can I really make a difference?

You Can Make A Difference

As I think about it, the answer has to be yes and no. Yes because God in His grace has given us agency– we have the ability to make choices that have consequences for the better or worse. And however impactful or influential we may think those choices are, significant change is always made of extraordinary amounts of people being faithful in ordinary things. Although movements and institutions of great change are often kickstarted by influential and impactful leaders and figures, God’s Word shows us time and time again that God’s formula for extraordinary change is everyone devoting everything to Him everyday in simple and ordinary ways.

God’s formula for extraordinary change is everyone devoting everything to Him everyday in simple and ordinary ways.

Just consider what would happen if every Christian in North America shared the gospel with two people and took up a discipling relationship with one person. There would quite literally be a doubling of the Christian population and a dramatic increase in spiritual maturity!

And yet why does that not happen? Because seemingly unimportant, uninfluential, and simple people like you and me can often forget that the way we live can really make a difference. The road to massive change begins with simple people like you and me taking small steps and realizing that what we do does make a difference. We just have to have eyes to see it and the courage to live like it.

And Then Again, You Can’t

So yes we can make a change. But then again, we can’t! What do I mean? Well, we can’t really make a difference in the sense that we aren’t the ones who actually bring about change. Only God can bring about true change. Think about it. As Christians, we understand that the greatest problem that plagues our world is the problem of sin. Since the beginning of time, the black spot on the white cloth of paradise and perfect peace has always been sin. And only through the gospel taking root in people’s hearts through the power of God and outpouring of the Holy Spirit can real change come. God’s Word is clear in teaching us that He is the ultimate one who calls people to Himself and brings about the miraculous work of heart regeneration leading to life transformation. (Ezekiel 36:26-27). So as we plan our ways and build our houses we do so knowing that the final and ultimate outcome is in the hands of our sovereign and good God. (Proverbs 16:9, Psalm 127:1). As we labor to make a difference for the better, we remember and remind ourselves that ultimately change comes through God’s sovereign plans being carried out through our passion for and pursuit of ordinary and dogged faithfulness.

Change comes through God’s sovereign plans being carried out through our passion for and pursuit of ordinary and dogged faithfulness.

Dare to Make A Difference

So now that we see that what we do really does make a difference, the question then becomes how do we really make a difference?

In the rest of the article I’ll talk about seven ways we can really make a difference in the people and places around us.

1. Know Your Purpose

Firstly, it’s important that we know our purpose. God has created each and every one us for His glory (Isaiah 43:7,21), and gives us certain universal and clear guidelines for living and thinking. So know what God says about your identity and who you are in Christ. (Eph 1:4-5, 2:19, 2 Cor 5:17, 1 John 3:1) Know what God’s will for holiness is in our lives and what He commissions us to do. (Matthew 16:24, 28:18-20, Romans 12:2, 1 Thessalonians 4:3, Ephesians 4:17). Know your God-given purpose for living on this earth.

2. Manage Your Areas of Responsibility

Secondly, we can make a difference is through managing our areas of responsibility. Ultimately, we can’t effectively serve others and make a change in our world if our lives are characterized by chaos. As they say on airplanes, you have to first put on your airbag before you can be a source of helpful assistance to others. So if you want to really make a difference in the lives of others, do a quick assessment and analysis of how well you’re managing your various responsibilities (work, school, church, relationships, personal health and wellbeing, etc!). Create a stable life that is strong enough to bear up the burdens of others, and holy enough to be worthy of imitation. (Gal 6:2, 1 Cor 11:1).

3. What Are Your Abilities and Ambitions?

Thirdly, ask and assess, what are my abilities and ambitions? Scripture is clear that God gives us our gifts and abilities for the building up of His church. (1 Cor 12:7). We are given our gifts to serve and build up others. I also believe that God gives all of us different ambitions and desires that help to give us clarity on the ways we can practically serve Him and His people. Your desires are likely linked to the specific way you are called to make a difference, and your abilities are likely guides for the avenues where you ought to serve.

Your desires are likely linked to the specific way you are called to make a difference, and your abilities are likely guides for the avenues where you ought to serve.

Some of us have a passion for evangelism, others for hospitality, others for teaching, others for defending the unborn, helping the poor, reaching youth and college students, or caring for the disabled. So know your abilities and ambitions and always show up with a humble heart that is ready to be used in any way necessary.

4. Assess What Institutions and Communities You Can Start or Support and Strengthen

Fourthly, to really make a difference we should assess what institutions and communities we can help to start or support and strengthen. Are you serving faithfully in your local church? Have you considered getting involved with a local institution that seeks to uphold justice and do good to others? Or is God maybe calling you to start one of those institutions and communities? Whatever it may be, seek to ascertain the ways in which you can start or support and strengthen local institutions and communities. Significant change can be never done alone. We need each other and always do more when we work together. So get involved with your local church and institutions that promote good, and start making a change for the better!

5. Prioritize the Pursuit of Personal Holiness

Fifth, to we need to prioritize the pursuit of personal holiness. Striving for change is ultimately about seeing people’s lives transformed and impacted for the better through the gospel of Jesus Christ. And a major way the gospel is spread is through not only spreading the gospel with our lips, but showing the gospel with our lives. (Matthew 5:16).

The gospel is spread is through not only spreading the gospel with our lips, but showing the gospel with our lives. (Matthew 5:16).

As the general mission statement for DTFR says, the goal is not only to learn God’s Word and love God’s Word, but also live God’s Word. So in your pursuit of public change, never fail to prioritize personal holiness. Additionally, remember that you can’t lead where you won’t go and you can’t teach what you don’t know. In other words, practice what you preach and live a life that is filled with the fruit of the Spirit. Anything you do will be all the more effective if it is accompanied by a holy, pure, and righteous life. (1 Thessalonians 1:5a).

6. Remember the Goal Is Always God and the Gospel

Sixth, remember that the goal in change is always to point people to God and the gospel. Our good works are meant to point people to our Father in heaven (Matt 5:16). As mentioned earlier, freedom from the penalty and power of sin, the root of all change, can only come through the Holy Spirit imprinting the message of the gospel deep upon our hearts. (Ezekiel 36:26-27, Titus 3:4-7). So as we seek to make a difference we must not ever forget the deeper, unseen, and yet ever-present spiritual war we are waging. (Eph 6:12). Satan hates gospel-produced change, and as we have seen so clearly as of late, will stop at nothing to undo any good that is done. Which is why we must point people to the one true source of hope and life. (John 14:6, 17:3).

7. Cling to Christ: Our Hope in Life and Death!

Last but not least, I am encouraged and encourage you with this truth: amidst all our pain and efforts to produce change, our ultimate, sure, and steadfast hope is in Jesus Christ. As we wage war against the evil in our world, we have the hope and peace of knowing that the battle is already won and the eventual outcome already sure. (John 16:33, 1 John 4:4). Unlike the world, in the midst of pain and tragedy, we as children of God joyfully, tearfully, boldly, loudly, and continually proclaim that Christ and Christ alone is our hope in life and death! And that, dear friends, is the truth we cling to and meditate upon above all. It is the reason why what we do can really make a difference.