By way of introducing yesterday’s message I said, I recently noticed an announcement saying that a pastor was starting a new series of messages entitled, “Making A Difference”. I like that–as Christians we should make a difference! However, we can’t make a difference unless we are different. That’s where the rub comes in. Most professing Christians today are no different than the world. While their beliefs differ, their behavior is the same. And, being like the world we have no means of changing it.
Indeed we should make a difference— we are salt and light in this corrupt and confused sin darkened world. But if we are no different than those around us we can’t have a positive influence in their lives. We must be different to make a difference. I’m not talking about being different just for the sake of being different. I’m talking about being different because we are conforming our ways to the Word of God. That’s the only thing that will make a difference in the world.
John Stott wrote: “– when society” goes “bad, we Christians tend to throw up our hands in pious horror and reproach the non-Christian world; but should we not rather reproach ourselves? One can hardly blame unsalted meat for going bad. It cannot do anything else. The real question to ask is: where is the salt?” That is right on target! We need to stop blaming the world and start blaming ourselves. We’re salt, they’re not. We need some folks like Daniel who dared to make a difference by being different. It would do us good to remember the little chorus that says, “Dare to be a Daniel. Dare to stand alone”. Think about it!
