You Can Make A Difference

We are all here to make a difference during our lives on Earth, but it's easy to get distracted and focus on things that don't matter. One thing that can distract us from making a difference is getting stuck in comparison. When we start to compare our lives to how our friends are living we end up with problems like envy, jealousy, discontentment and lack of gratitude. We also lose focus from our own calling in life because we are so focused on what other people are doing or aren't doing. The only way we can make a difference with our lives is by staying focused on running our own race in life.


We know we are stuck in comparison when we are working hard trying to prove ourselves, trying to show others that we are good enough. If we get consumed with proving our own worth we will have no time or energy leftover to make a difference with our lives. We already have great worth, because we were all Made by God, we can stop competing and trying to show the world that we matter and have worth. Once we finally understand how loved we are by God we become aware of our own worth, and there is no need to prove anything to anyone any longer.


We run hard after beauty, power, status, titles at work, money and prestige because deep on the inside we aren't sure if we are good enough, so we want to impress people so bad. Once we know our God-given worth we are free to focus our time and energy on making a difference, rather than trying to prove ourselves.


When we want to make a difference there are a few things that we need to understand to be successful. Pastor April Carter from Together Church mentions three things in her message that all Difference Makers have in common:
1) Difference Makers aren't double minded, they are resolute in their thinking.
2) Difference Makers don't make excuses, they seize every opportunity.
3) Difference Makers don't get loud, they get involved.

My Beauty, Relationships and Career is what makes me valuable?

As little children we quickly pick up on what the culture around us values. Our culture teaches us that we will find ultimate happiness and fulfillment in many things that can never truly satisfy our souls. Three of the most popular places we tend to misplace our identity in is our beauty, our relationship status and our careers.

Movies, Women's magazines, social media etc. all send us the same message: "The more beautiful you are the more valuable, fulfilled and happy you will be." When we believe this lie we end up obsessing about how we look. We feel insecure about our appearance and spend a lot of time, effort and money on trying to look more beautiful. But many of the most beautiful people in this world have opened up about how insecure and unfulfilled they felt even as they worked as models or were considered one of the most beautiful people in the world. Our culture teaches us that we need to look a certain way to be happy and fulfilled. God tells us in the Bible that we look exactly the way he intended for us to look. We are all unique, beautiful and of great worth, because we are all made by God himself, He designed us.


Our relationship status is another popular place where we tend to misplace our identity. Look at any movie and you will notice that we are taught that romantic love is what will give us ultimate happiness and fulfillment in life. God teaches us something different, he teaches us that it's only in knowing Him that we can find ultimate happiness and fulfillment. God is perfect and He will never fail me in this life, but my husband will, because he is human. I love my husband and he brings a lot of joy to my life, but he is able to do that mainly because I don't expect him to have God's role in my life.


Romantic relationships become miserable when we expect our significant other to do for us what only God himself can do. God alone is the only one who will love you no matter what, God alone is the only one who will always be there for you to help, listen and care for you. No human-being will ever be able to love you perfectly and unconditionally, only God can do that. If I believe that my relationship status is connected to my worth and value as a woman I will also be discontent with being single and create an unhealthy expectation in my heart that once I'm in a romantic relationship then I will finally be happy and fulfilled. Nope, that's not how it goes. I will never be happy or fulfilled in a romantic relationship if I wasn't already happy and fulfilled as a single lady.


The third place where we tend to misplace our identity is in our careers. When we believe that our careers are connected to our worth and value as a woman we become very focused on achievements and get anxious/stressed when we are not achieving at top level. We were all created by God to do good works, but or work is not what gives us our worth and value as a person. God does not value a woman who works as a CEO any higher than an old retired lady who doesn't work.


We are all called by God to love Him and to love other people. God isn't impressed by how much we achieve, what title we have at work or how much power we have. Sometimes you can see a small child who is more caring and loving to others than some important business owner who has become focused on selfish ambition. Our careers can (and should) be used to love and serve God&people with, but our achievements will never give us more worth in God's eyes. There is nothing we can do for God to love us more, and there is nothing we can do that would make God love us less. God's love for me and you is always completely unconditional and freely given, you could never earn it.

Nothing to Prove

The level of happiness has gone down among women over the last few decades. We are stressed, tired, and struggle to feel good enough. We carry many different roles in life; daughter, sister, wife, mom, business owner, leader etc. Today, maybe more than ever, the expectations on women are heavy. Social media can add even more pressure and expectations to live up to. We have grown up in a society that teaches us that to be somebody you have to "make something out of yourself". We learn early on that we have to prove our own worth if we want to receive praise from others.


God has a completely different view of us, He tells us we are of great worth because we were made by Him. An expensive piece of art is valuable because of how famous the artist is, our maker is the most famous artist in the whole universe. We are all His masterpieces. When we understand who we are in Christ we can stop trying to prove our worth. We finally understand how precious we are to God, not because of what we do but because of who we are. It's freeing to see yourself from God's perspective. We are all important to him, we don't need titles or social status to be loved by God. God loves the woman in prison equally much as he loves the successful business woman. Our performance is not what gives us our worth as a human-being, although that is exactly what our society tells us every day.


If we try to control everything in life and strive for perfection we will end up exhausted. We are not able to live perfect lives, even if we tried. Our failures and shortcomings are a constant reminder of our need for God. We are not perfect but God is. God is the one who will fill in the blanks in our lives when we underperform or fail. If we live like we are God we will constantly be exhausted, anxious and overwhelmed. If you let God be God you are free to be you.


I am not enough. I make mistakes all the time. I fail and underperform, but then I get back up and try again. I refuse to let my failures define me because I know God has grace available for each one of my mistakes. His forgiveness and grace for me is new every day. I'm free to live a passionate life serving him without any fear of failure. When I fail God is fully able to use even my biggest mistake towards making something beautiful in the end. I'm not the one who will change the world, God is. I'm just a tool in the hands of the King of the universe. All I need to do is focus on doing my small part and watch God do the big part.

Unconditional Love

We live in a world today where our culture tends to base a persons worth on superficial things like a persons level of success, beauty or based on what kind of possessions a person owns. We quickly adapt to our environments and as we grow up we start to view others and ourselves through this lens. We believe that to matter, to be accepted, appreciated and loved we need to perform well and constantly achieve more and more. We quickly forget that every single person on this Earth has great value. Humans need to be active to be healthy physically, spiritually and emotionally but it's important that we remember that our achievements are not what give us our value. We are of great value because of who we are, not because of what we do.

What happens when we base our identity on our achievements?

We live in a culture today where power and achievements are celebrated more than anything else. The cultural ideal is to be strong and successful. It's easy to start believing that our worth is connected to our achievements, but what happens when we start to base our identity on our success? What happens the day that success is gone? How do we view ourselves then? Baron Batch shares his story.