The difference He makes,
Makes a difference in the one
He makes a difference in…
Who is your He?
So says the poster on my wall at work. We all make an impact, a difference in someone else. We matter simply because we are. While some may diminish you for lack of some particular attribute or another, you matter to some. I wonder what the top five are; beauty, money, strength wit, or maybe genius. We matter much and we matter little. Sometimes the ones despised matter more and the ones adored make little impact at all.
Difference does not simply mean “not as it was prior to”. It implies that a significant alteration involving existing capabilities, desires, and perspective. The you who was, is no longer the you who is. The impossible that was is now the possible ahead. The not interested in has become the sought after goal and treasure. It is inherent in humans to hope, have desires and believe that they are attainable. It is the expression of a normal life. Not only do we know this for ourselves but we see possibilities in others. Sometimes the expression in the life of another is so unique, so intriguing, that we desire to impact those possibilities. Our life then becomes the difference maker in the life of another.
My fourteen year old granddaughter is a good example. She is pretty, talented, intelligent, kind, generous and grateful. That says a lot and displays a lot of potential. I want to impact that potential in such a way that her life impacts many other lives for good. I desire to be a difference maker. I desire for her to fulfill her purpose in life. I cannot make her prettier although I can give counsel on acceptable appearance and the dangers of displaying what is unacceptable.
If she were merely talented, I might provide insight or instruction into the discipline and perseverance needed to develop and enhance those talents. However gifted might by a better word to use. I cannot increase her gift; I can only recognize it and encourage that it be used well. Often I have joked that I helped her become who she is by withholding the best parts of the gene pool from myself and reserving them unto her. Even if there were any truth in that statement, I would have had no part in those decisions. She is unusually bright and as mentally sharp as she is by the hand of her maker.
As I exhibit kindness, love, compassion or other humane attributes, I have opportunity to influence her toward emulating those. Yet the example and demonstration of her wise and faithful parents have laid the foundation and ensured the direction she asserts. She is giving because it has been well modeled to her. It has been taught by instruction, demonstration, observation and admonition. Her kind generosity is the natural response to the stimulus she is exposed to. In childlike innocence her giving heart is projected to all. She makes a difference in those she affects. All of this insightful perception of the gifts which are in her by design and by the impact of others leads to her response. She is grateful. The grace of her attitude of thankfulness is the culmination all these. She does not diminish any of them. I see the respectful response to her parents and siblings while growing into the unique individual she has been intended to be. I sense the loving relationship with the King of Glory, Jesus her Messiah.
I feel her astonishing heartbreak when she is injured in word or touch from others and the outpouring of compassion that follows. Her gratitude is toward her Savior, her creator and her provider. He alone has directed her beginnings in the womb. He alone has preserved her in the environment that is best suited to develop those gifts as he desires. His presence in her heart assures His continual impact. She is grateful for all of this.
We choose some of those we allow to impact us. We choose some of those we impact. Our response to their desire to impact us stems from what and whom has impacted us already. So who is the He you allow to impact you? Obviously there are many you will think of who have some impact or influence with you. Yet my question is much more specific. Who is the He who is the difference in you that makes the you whom you are different from the you which you were before you were influenced to become the you whom you are?
Is it a religious leader because you desire to be more than you are just in this life? Is it a sports figure who has attained greatness and great reward? Is it perhaps a political leader who has demonstrated that one person can indeed make a difference for many? Is it a business professional or co-worker or someone who portrays the truth of what life is meant to be? Or is it, as for me and my brilliant granddaughter and so many others, the one true living loving Creator God Himself? Is it He who has by your certain acknowledgement of Him, firmly established your path and purpose and defined the complete fulfillment of your existence? What were you, what are you without Him?
He is in the Hebrew tongue YHWH, we pronounce it Yah-Weh. He is referred to as the Angel of the Lord, Yah-Shua (God Saves). He is in the Greek language Iesous (E-A-Sous).
He is the creator of the universe and all things which exist consist be His intervening. Every living soul does so as the specific result of His creative act and will. No man or woman is completely fulfilled in their greatest potential except He is dwelling in them through their interest in His shed blood during His redemptive work on the cross of Calvary.
He makes the difference in her. He makes that difference in her. He makes all the difference in her which can be made. Jesus is in her by her volitional acceptance and acknowledgement of the truth He proclaims. He only makes that difference in those who invite Him to do so.
The rest are influenced to be all they are by the one who has deceived from the first deception in the garden God made for man. That one makes the difference for all who will not believe. That difference is that their destination will be as his, an eternity separated from the loving Creator. You are influenced by; you are differentiated by the one who makes the difference in you. Is He your difference or is he your difference? Each of us chooses one.