Tag: Difference

Making a Difference

jfk quoteHappy New Year!

     There’s a line in the movie The Greatest Showman, that came out Christmas 2017, which stuck with me. It’s actually a quote from P.T Barnum, played by Hugh Jackman in the movie.

 

“No one ever made a difference by being like everyone else.”

     Too many of us, trying to fit in, actually merely blend in. We become part of the background while others step forward. We react to what is going on around us rather than initiating actions that will matter.

     In the progression of history, we are living in a hiatus, a time between times. If you think of time as a series of phases and transitions, we are in a transition, about to enter into some new yet-to-be-defined reality. What a great time to be alive! We get to write the definers of the next age, of the next paradigms of human perspectives.

     The great thing about transitions is that we cannot turn back; we must forge ahead.

     Sadly, too many of us want to live in the past. We’ve entrenched ourselves in the belief that the past was more secure, more stable, safer. It is change, the new, that is to be feared. Really!?! This is why our schools & colleges should require a course in HISTORY, no matter what your major. We have lost our way.

     Christians have taken the sports mantra No Fear and turned it into a tee-shirt— Fear not… . [Isaiah 41:10] Yet we Christians seem more afraid to face change, to face the future, to face our world’s fluctuating foundations and values than anyone. What’s with that, anyway?!?

     The genuine Christian should not strive to fit in, to blend. Rather, to make a difference in the world; from the lives of those around them, to the world arena. Let’s step forward and be counted.

     So instead of New Year’s Resolutions, make action plans; instead of setting personal goals, set people goals. Who will you help? Who can you love like Jesus? Who can you pass on your wisdom to? And don’t tell anyone. Just do it.

Make a difference,
Gary
Dr. Gary Davis, President

www.CluelessChristianity.com  

NEXT TIME~ a consideration of postChristian apologetics

Making a Difference

difference, clueless, community, christianity, life, We all want to make a difference. Some of us want to make a difference exclusively for ourselves: more money, nicer house, vacation home, BMW 7 series. Nothing wrong with that— except for the “exclusively” part.

Some of us want to make a difference on a local playing field—literally; coaching a sport, serving the elderly, providing meals for the injured, etc. We care about our friends & neighbors.

Fewer of us want to make a difference in the world arena. We become the shakers & movers of world change. We may hold public office and be in the public eye or we may operate under-the-radar, making a difference on the sly. But we keep the world safer and less prone to self-destruct.

The challenge of this EMPulse is obvious.  In what ways are you making a difference in your neighborhood, your community, and the world? Notice the question was not Are you making a difference? Why? Because you are not the one who should provide the answer. The people around you should respond. As for making a difference in the world, giving from your bounty (not from whatever is left at the end of the month) should be a priority. But have you ever sought an audience with Theresa May, Michel Temer, Justin Trudeau, Enrique Peña Nieto or Xi Jinping? Some of us need to do that to make a difference.

Kent Julian, on his BLOG Dream to Do, suggests 7 traits of people who make a difference—

  1. Hard (& smart) worker
  2. Consistency and Perseverance
  3. People-Person
  4. Truth-Teller
  5. Problem-Solver
  6. Lifelong Learner
  7. Delivers the good

If you show evidence of any of these character traits, then you should already be making a difference. Add significant time in Prayer to that list and you become a lethal weapon in the hands of God.

If you do not exhibit any of these traits, why don’t you? Are you afraid of something, or self-absorbed? Or is personal gain that central to your life? Really?!? Isn’t making a difference worth a little sacrifice?

Do you really want to hear our Lord say to you “Depart from me, I never knew you… .” (Matthew 7:23).

We all need to make sure we are making a difference somewhere.

 

Honor God, honor people.., make a difference,

Gary

assasination

Mohandas Gandhi (1948), John F. Kennedy (1963), Archduke Franz Ferdinand (1941), Abraham Lincoln (1865), Martin Luther King Jr. (1968), Malcolm X (1965), John Lennon (1980), Philip II of Macedon (336 bc) father of Alexander the Great, Empress Myeongseong, Queen of Korea (1895), Park Chung-hee, leader of South Korea (1979), King Henry IV, King of France (1610), Nicholas II, last Czar of Russia (1918), Benazir Bhutto, former Prime Minister of Pakistan (2007), Commodus, Roman Emperor (192). [taken from— http://www.good.is/posts/the-15-most-infamous-assassinations-in-history  ]

These are some of the more significant people who have been assassinated throughout history. There are more, to be sure. But this short list is unique: each played a role in shaping the lives of those around them on an immediate and world level. Their lives made a difference. Some more, some less.

On a recent trip to Colorado a well-known person of influence asked his leaders, “Would it matter to this state, this city, if our organization ceased to exist? Vanished off the face of the earth? Would anyone miss us?” It was quite the question. There are numerous organizations that this planet could well do without. [No, I will not suggest any lest I be boiled in oil.]

His question prodded me to wonder about the company I run. Would anyone miss us if we ceased to exist? Then it got personal— Would anyone miss me if I ceased to exist?

These two questions, in turn, led to a third— Is my life making a difference? Am I making any significant difference in the lives of those around me? In this nation? In our world?

I repeat, the question I wonder about is this— “Has my life been consequential enough to have made a profound contribution to anyone else?” My life, my passion, my work, have all sought to matter, to leave a gracious legacy to those who take up the torch after me.

How ‘bout you? This is big stuff; worth giving some thought.

For what it’s worth,

Gary