The Difference Makers

Throughout the Olympics we watched athletes achieve extraordinary things, sometimes in the midst of great adversity. Before some of their events, broadcasters aired vignettes about their lives -- about the "difference makers" who were so important in helping them reach their dreams. One was a great coach, while one was a mother who supported her child moving away from home so she could perfect her talent. There were the local men who'd taught a biathlete to shoot and who made sure she had the resources to succeed. Yet another was a speed-skater who suffered a horrible accident but who was determined to one day train again: though he did not make it to these games, his courage inspired his friend to keep going and reach for the goal they had shared.

This Sunday, Father David talked about how we, too, are called to be difference makers.

One example he used was Ananias, a man whose name probably leaves you thinking: "who?" After Saul / Paul is blinded by the revelation of Christ, this man is sent to him by God, even though Paul has been persecuting the Jesus followers with a fervor rivaled only by his devotion to God (Acts 9:10-19). Ananias, though doubtless terrified, went and found Paul. Who knows what would have happened to the course of Christianity if he hadn't! Maybe Paul would not have become the Apostle of Grace; maybe we'd still be hiding from persecution.

Ananias, by trusting in God, changed the course of history and promptly disappeared into anonymity. We never hear about him again, and no one knows what happened to him. He may not have won a gold medal, but he certainly was a difference maker!

Not everyone is called to greatness: we do not all command public attention and acclaim, and we do not all shape the history of our faith. But we are all called to bear fruit for the Kingdom and to be difference makers.

We may not know, at the time, that we are making a difference. Nor may we even be consciously trying to make one. Maybe it's something as simple as wearing a cross, as telling people you go to church, as inviting someone to share a meal, as letting someone pass in front of you, as buying fair-trade coffee, as bearing a child.

So long as we live the Gospel in our lives, it shines out from us in ways we can't begin to see or imagine. Our faith is a gift from God and has all the power of God behind it. By living our lives as Christians, we are changing the world! God is at work in us for His good pleasure, and if we allow Him to tend us we will bear much good fruit.

What does being a difference maker mean to you?