DEVOTION: What Difference Will You Make? ~ by Shirley Corder

A few weeks ago in church, the preacher spoke of a brief trip he had just taken with his wife to Portugal. They went sightseeing, visited the beach and restaurants, enjoyed the different culture for a week, and then came home refreshed. “But,” he said, “Portugal remains the same. We did nothing to change it.”

In 1992, my husband Rob and I travelled to Israel as part of a group of 20 Christians. We spent two weeks touring the Holy Land. We met and interacted with a few locals, we visited many famous sites, we experienced spiritual blessings, and we returned home to South Africa with a new enthusiasm for God’s Word. Many of us were changed. But Israel remained the same.

In June of 1964, anti-apartheid activist, Nelson Mandela, was sentenced to life imprisonment because of conspiracy to overthrow the state. He served 27 years in jail, 18 of them in the notorious Robben Island prison (picture above.). Even in that prison cell, he made a difference to the people he came into contact with. So much so that when he was released, he became the first president of the new democratic South Africa. When he died in December 2013, tributes from across the world gave some idea of the amazing difference this one man made in the lives of so many.

Nearly 2,000 years ago, Saul of Tarsus, a rabid persecutor of the Christian church, became the apostle Paul. He too spent many years in jail, and from there he wrote a number of the epistles that we read in the pages of our Bibles today. Who knows how many lives have been changed because that one man used his prison time to write and to reach out to the world within his reach.

Paul didn’t intend to become one of the greatest apostles. He simply wanted to reach individuals with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Mandela didn’t seek the highest role in the land, nor did he aim to become a world-famous statesman. He wanted to help his people—the people of Africa—to live in harmony, to find freedom. 

How about you today? Do you feel as if you’re in some sort of prison? Are you too busy, too committed, too tied down—with children or family commitments, with work and career engagements—to even consider making a difference in anyone’s life?

Determine now that during this already-not-so-new year, 2014, you will make a difference in someone’s life. And of course, the greatest way you can do this is by introducing that person to the One who can make the greatest difference of all. Jesus Christ. It may be someone close to you. It may even be through a seemingly insignificant act. 

The first person I led to the Lord as a brand new Christian came about as a result of a dare. She wanted me to climb Table Mountain with her. I was terrified. Confident that she would say "No" to my invitation, I retorted, "I'll go up the mountain with you if you'll come to church with me." 

She said "Yes". 

She came to church with me, and in the middle of that night she woke me. She wanted to give her life to the Lord. Oh and by the way, I fell in love with Table Mountain and climbed it many times over the next few years! Both of us had our lives changed as a result of that short conversation.

So who knows? By reaching out even in a little way, you could make a huge difference in someone’s life. By telling them your own personal story of how you became a follower of Jesus Christ, you could transform them for eternity. By finishing that book you’ve dreamed of for so long, who knows how many lives may be impacted?

The Lord bless you as you carry on into 2014 with a firm resolve that this year YOU will make a difference!
 

SHIRLEY CORDER lives on the coast in South Africa with her husband. Her book, Strength Renewed: Meditations for your Journey through Breast Cancer contains 90 meditations based on her sojourn in the cancer valley. 

Please visit Shirley through ShirleyCorder.com, where she encourages writers, or at  RiseAndSoar.com, where she encourages those in the cancer valley. You can also meet with her on Twitter or FaceBook.