Why the World Needs Difference Makers

The World Needs Difference Makers

The thing your neighborhood, your city, your country, and the world needs most is difference makers.

The world needs millions and millions of people who say together:

I was made for more than watching.

I have a history-changing, difference-making, life-giving, Spirit-empowered legacy to leave.

Jesus, I ask you to work deeply in me and clearly through me as I pray, give, and go in your love. I am a difference maker.

In Jesus' name. Amen.

Perhaps the most well-known teaching of Jesus comes in the Sermon on the Mount. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus has been doing miracles and announcing the kingdom of God for four chapters. Then, in chapter five, He goes up on a mountain and begins to teach His hearers. He teaches them about the "blessed" life—the life that is consistent with the values of the coming kingdom.

What do people living this life look like? It's not what we may be inclined to think. When we think of the blessed life, we think of health, wealth, and success. But Jesus' version is a little different. "Blessed are the poor in spirit," he begins, "for the kingdom of heaven is theirs" (v. 3). He goes on:

This, according to Jesus, is the good life! When we are shaped by Jesus and the values of His kingdom, this is the kind of life it produces. And a funny thing happens when a whole bunch of people, following Jesus together, embody these characteristics. They become really helpful to the world.

Check out what Jesus says a few verses later:

"Blessed are those who mourn" (v. 4).
"Blessed are the humble" (v. 5).
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness" (v. 6).
"Blessed are the merciful" (v. 7).
"Blessed are the pure in heart" (v. 8).
"Blessed are the peacemakers" (v. 9).
"Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness" (v. 10).
"You are blessed when they insult you and persecute you and falsely say every kind of evil against you because of me" (v. 11).

"¹³ 'You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It’s no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.

¹⁴You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.'"
Matthew 5:13-16 CSB

What the world needs most, then, is not education or love—as good as those things are. What the world needs most are salt and light. Salt—to preserve what is good in the world and to add flavor to the mundane nature of life "under the sun." Light—to give sight to a spiritually blind world, to illuminate the darkness, to expose sin and evil.

The word translated "you" in the verses above is a plural form of the word. If you live in the South like me, you might say, "Y'all are the salt of the earth. Y'all are the light of the world." The point is, it requires the community. None of us can, by ourselves, be the salt and light we're called to be; it's only when we come together that we can be truly good for the world. All of this so that the world "may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven" (Matt. 5:16).

Did you notice that last line? Difference makers aren't about getting the glory for themselves. They're about getting the glory for God. And when we embody the values of the kingdom and live together on the same page, we become salt and light, we become good for the world, and God gets the glory.