Here we are in 2020. It is so hard to believe. Another year bites the dust. As I get older, each year passes by faster. I thoroughly enjoyed Christmas, but it is time to focus on the New Year. Each of us should look back over the previous year and examine our mistakes, see what we learned from them, and determine not to make the same mistake again.
Just as important, we need to be able to look back over our lives and see how we made a difference. This was the theme of It’s a Wonderful Life. The main character, George Bailey, ran a small building and loan company that was barely making it. He was on the verge of bankruptcy and being arrested because of his uncle’s mishap with the deposit to the bank. George felt his family would be better off if he was dead. They could at least get his life insurance. He tells his guardian angel that he wishes he had never been born. Without telling you the whole story, George has the experience of finding out what the world would have been like without him. He made quite a difference in his little town and the lives of the people who lived there.
That would be a scary feeling to me. I wonder what the world would have been like if I had never been born. As a Christian, I will one day see how my life has affected others, for the good and the bad. The Lord will show me the opportunities I missed as well as the people I influenced. I wonder how many times I have walked past someone ignoring his needs. I wonder how many of my students I was too busy to listen to. I wonder how many times I have let my family and friends down. What have I done to help the strangers all around us that need to hear about Jesus? The list is endless.
I can only hope that I learned from my mistakes and took the time to do what the Lord wanted me to do at the time. It is so important to take time to listen and help those in need. It may be as simple as offering a shoulder to cry on or even someone to laugh with. Many parents are so busy. Our children simply need us to listen and be there for them. The times our children will remember are when we took time to show them the way and listen as they spoke from their hearts. Our elderly people are forgotten. We have good intentions. We mean to visit or help them out, but we just don’t get around to it. And most importantly, we have a lost and dying world out there that most people don’t even seem to notice. That is a thought-provoking question. What would be the difference in our world if you had never lived? I hope that one day I will see that my life made a difference for Christ.
I would like to give you some food for thought. What would our lives be like if Christ had never been born? There are so many ways Jesus changed the world when He came to die for us. He changed the hearts of men. According to Ryan Leasure, in ancient Rome babies were discarded in the trash (much like they are today), and Christians went around pulling them from the trash heap. The Romans practiced infanticide if they didn’t like the way the child looked, sometimes just because it was a girl. Many Christians today are still fighting against this atrocity. We call it abortion.
Jesus had compassion for the sick and healed many people. Most people avoided the sick because they were afraid of catching the disease. Most of our early hospitals were founded by Christians. Missionaries today go into third world countries at their own risk to help those that are sick.
Can you imagine what our world would be like without Christianity today? Look at the oppressive countries. If Christ had never come, that’s what our world would be like. In those countries people are overworked, starving, and cold. They are executed if they disagree with their government. The countries are poor except for the elite.
Many Americans, as well as other Christians from different countries, have not lived up to Jesus’ message. We have not followed his precepts as we should have, but America is much better off because of Jesus Christ.
According to the internet site Jesusisnotfakenews.com, here are some statistics that might shed some light on some of the differences Christians have made.
Faith-based organizations provide a safety net for over 70,000,000 people with some kind of need.
Twenty of the top fifty charities are faith-based and raise $45 billion annually.
During disaster relief efforts, 59% of the organizations providing relief services are faith-based.
Clergymen save America $216 billion in mental health fees each year with free or low-cost counseling.
The US Catholic Health Association operates more than 1,600 care facilities including hospitals and clinics for low-income families.
Through all their ministries, non-profit faith-based organizations save the US government $2.67 trillion every year.
Simply put, Christianity feeds the poor, helps those in trouble, provides mental health, gives medical assistance, and saves the American Economy trillions of dollars.
English minister James Russell Lowell was so confident of Christianity’s positive influence that he penned: “I challenge you to find on the face of the earth a single place ten miles square where a decent man may live in safety and happiness where the Bible has not gone before to make that security and morality possible.”
Do you think you could find a place that meets this challenge? In the countries where Christian influence does not exist, oppression, slavery, mistreatment of women, and low wages are commonplace.
We take so much for granted. Without Christ, many of the things we have grown accustomed to would not exist today. Jesus Christ made a difference when He came down to earth as a man to save us from our sins. It is plain and simple; He gave it all, so that we might have life more abundantly.
…I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. John 10:10b
Let us not take Jesus for granted. He could have chosen not to come to earth. He could have let us die in our sins. But He didn’t. We should each make our lives count for Christ. One day we shall see in what ways we affected others. Hopefully, we will see that we changed other people’s lives here on earth and for eternity for their good.
It is a New Year. Let us make a difference in someone’s life today.
Mrs. Worthington has five children and eleven grandchildren. She serves as Principal of Pathway Christian Academy in Goldsboro.