Romans 13:13-14, “Let us live in a right way, like people who belong to the day. … But clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ and forget about satisfying your sinful self.”
Have you ever felt like just staying in bed instead of facing the day ahead of you? Your motivation fading as you think, “What difference do I make anyway?” You see the enormous duties ahead of you yet feel your talents can’t measure up to the tasks ahead of you.
There is a story of a couple who was staying at a hotel by the sea. During the night, the man awoke to a big storm around them. As he lay awake to the sounds of the wind and rain and the flashing of the lightning, he wondered if they’d be okay.
Finally, in the early morning hours after the storm had passed, he decided to venture out and go for a walk. He was curious to see the damage the storm had caused.
Walking along the shoreline, he noticed all the starfish now stranded, washed up from the waves with no way to get back to the sea. They would soon dry up from the sun.
As the man walked, he spotted a young man further up the shore. The young man would bend over, pick something up and throw it into the water. As he continued doing this, the older man continued to walk towards him, eventually reaching the young man.
What he saw surprised him. The young man was picking up the scattered starfish and throwing them back into the water. “Why are you doing this?” The old man asked. “One person will never make a difference. There are just too many starfish to get back into the water before the sun dries them up.”
“That’s true,” the boy sadly replied, picking up another starfish and throwing it in the water. “But I sure can make a difference to this one.”
As a tour group walked through a factory, they saw, in one room, an elongated steel pole that had to weigh at least 500 pounds. It was suspended by a chain, and next to it was an average size cork suspended by silk thread.
The attendant then told the group that they were going to see something amazing. She then took the cork, pulled it back, and let it go swinging into the steel bar. As expected, the bar didn’t move in the slightest.
For ten minutes, the cork swung like a pendulum hitting the steel bar each time. Finally, the bar vibrated slightly. When the tour group passed by again an hour later, the great bar was swinging like a pendulum of a clock!
How often do we feel like that lightweight cork against the problems of the world? We aren’t strong enough to even make a dent of influence against the evil before us. We fail to remember that God never intended just one person to solve all of life’s problems.
What God intended was for each of us to use the resources and gifts we have been given to influence and show God’s goodness to those around us.
Not everyone is to spread the love of Jesus from the pulpit or the evangelistic trail. Most of us are called to live our lives as “corks” in God’s ministry through word and example. We are to quietly tap away one loving tap after another. In God’s time, we all can make a difference in the lives of others. Sometimes in lives that preachers may never reach.
Did you know that the average person encounters at least twenty different people in one day, with a minimum of one contact and exchange of words or a gesture? This gives you at least twenty opportunities to “tap” at the collective human heart.
No matter big or small, you can use your gifts to “make a difference” in the lives of those around you. A warm smile is a simple way to warm a stranger’s heart and show them Jesus does live and is taking care of us in this world of chaos.
As I have talked about in my previous blogs, studying the Bible is important, beneficial, and educational, we can find who Jesus is, receive strength and hope, learn about our history and follow in the footsteps of those who have walked before us. The Bible can be fun if we just take the time to read the pages with an open heart to receive Jesus and what He is teaching.
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on ConnectWithGodDaily
Featured Image by Pexels from Pixabay
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