MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THE LIVES OF OTHERS

Our God-given desires include our longing to contribute to the lives of others, those we care about as well as those we’ve never met. The most common expression of this is our desire to im- pact the lives of our children in a long-term and permanent way. We want to influence not only their immediate decisions, but also their decision-making process. We hope that even when we are gone, our children will reflect on what they’ve learned from us and respond accordingly. We see it in familiar phrases. “Your mother taught you well…” “You sure make your parents proud…” “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree…” “You’re a chip off the old block…” “I can see you were raised well.”

We also have a drive to make a difference with friends and co-workers. As we get to know them better, the Lord begins to reveal to us His heart for them. The fellow sitting at the next desk becomes a child of God in our eyes. The neighbor across the street grows dear to us and we think, “What can I do to bless her life?” Once we taste God’s love, we become zealous to impart it to others. We are not content to explore the vastness of God’s love alone. As we grow in the Lord, we feel compelled to impact more people than just those close to us. We begin to pray for the waitress who serves us, we begin to prophesy to the stranger in the grocery store. We find ourselves unwilling to go through life self-contained—we must make an impact.

All of this is part of the grand plan of God to impart His heart to us. He gives us these desires with the expressed intent of partnering with us. Given the choice of doing it with us or without us, He makes it clear that His perfect plan includes our imperfect cooperation. He doesn’t need our participation, He wants it.

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