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Want to make a difference in the world?

God can make a difference in our lives by changing our hearts. As God changes our hearts, He begins to work powerfully in our lives. Notice that in both steps, God is the One who does the heavy lifting. He has been making a difference through all of history. He desires to change the world more than you ever will. The good news is that He uses us to make a difference. 

God uses His people to bring His will “on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). We’re here to tell others about Jesus and to lead the people around us to see the incalculable worth of our God. That task seems huge! How do we do it? It happens as we connect with God and live according to His purpose. 

As we move into the world to make a difference, how do we stay connected to this history-shaping, world-changing God? The answer is so simple that it may surprise you: read the Bible. The God who changed our hearts from the old man we were without Christ to the new creation we are in Him, continues to change our hearts through His Word. 

God has given His Scriptures to His people so that they can know Him. The Bible is a perfect testimony of who God is and what He’s like. It “is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16). Through His Word God has given us “everything required for life and godliness” (2 Pet. 1:3). 

We don’t read the Bible as merely a religious exercise. We read the Bible because we believe it will change our lives. 

To be difference-makers, first and foremost we have to understand and believe that the power to make a difference isn’t found in us; it’s found in God. He makes a difference in us as we read His Word and apply it to our lives. Scripture has unique power because it communicates God’s thoughts to us. It tells us how we’re to relate to Him. Scripture has an authority we don’t have. Going to the Bible puts us in contact with God. When we read the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, encourages us in our pursuit of the Lord, and changes us from the inside out. If we don’t listen to God through His Word, we won’t be the kind of people who make a difference. We will simply feel lost, confused, and alone in a very dark world. 

There’s nothing magical about setting a time and a place to read God’s Word, but it’s essential to make time for the priorities that are important to us. If we want to know God better, we need to make time to listen to Him through His Word. In our attempts to leave a history-changing, difference-making, life-giving, Spirit-empowered legacy, we must start here. If we don’t have the Word of God, we have nothing, and our attempts to make a difference will end in failure because we’ll be striving in our own strength instead of being transformed by God’s work in our lives. Transformation happens as we read God’s Word and commit to doing what it says. We should submit to it. We should believe it. We should memorize it. We should meditate on it. We should come to know it so well that it permeates our hearts and minds.