A newspaper reporter once asked me why our church chose to get involved in helping people in Africa suffering from HIV/AIDS. My answer was quick and simple, “We’re just doing what Christians have always done. Christians have responded with love and compassion during epidemics all the way back to the bubonic plagues and smallpox epidemics of the Roman Empire. That’s what Christians do – they make a difference in the world.”

And what’s true of Christians as a group should be true of us individually as well. At the end of our lives, we want to be able to say that it mattered that we were here. We want to have made a difference in the name of Jesus Christ. No one wants to finish life poorly. We don’t want the measure of our lives to be the money we earned, the education we received or the possessions we accumulated. We want to make a real difference.

One of the best ways to get started is by simply looking for opportunities. You know those bumper stickers that say, “Start seeing motorcycles”? The point is that there are motorcycles whether you see them or not. Just open your eyes and look around and you’ll see lots of things that you would otherwise miss.

I challenge you to try it for a week. Look for ways you can reach out and make a difference in the lives of other people. God will give you lots of ideas – and they will be ideas that fit who you are and what you can do.