Speaker 1: Thank you and good morning. Welcome, this is Chris Witz,
Speaker 1: and this is Morning Devotions. We all have the potential
Speaker 1: to make a difference. We've got a gift inside of
Speaker 1: us that can help create a better world. Now some
Speaker 1: people don't realise how much potential they have, do you?
Speaker 1: I'm sure a lot of people struggle with this question.
Speaker 1: What difference do I make? Many people believe they don't
Speaker 1: have what it takes to make a difference to the world,
Speaker 1: and so they believe that only people like Mahatma Gandhi
Speaker 1: or Mother Teresa Thomas.
Speaker 1: Edison, Albert Einstein, or Bill Gates and, and the like,
Speaker 1: that these are the people capable of making a difference,
Speaker 1: but not them. But every one of us is put
Speaker 1: in this world to contribute and make a difference in
Speaker 1: our own unique way. It need not be anything extraordinary,
Speaker 1: it just needs to be something you do with the
Speaker 1: intention of doing good. Every moment of every day, you
Speaker 1: have the opportunity to make a difference because you decide
Speaker 1: how to spend your time and what your attitude's going
Speaker 1: to be. Happiness and
Speaker 1: They're the two greatest gifts that you can give to
Speaker 1: the world. Unfortunately, we're often indulged in our own gratifications,
Speaker 1: and we forget there are people in this world who
Speaker 1: we can make a little happier and feel more loved.
Speaker 1: As the saying goes, to receive, you must first give,
Speaker 1: and the more you give, the more you receive. So
Speaker 1: let's remind ourselves, we need to spend more time in
Speaker 1: helping others. It was Mother Teresa who said, you may
Speaker 1: not be able to feed thousands, but you can help
Speaker 1: feed one. Very often it's the.
Speaker 1: Acts that make the biggest difference. In 1968, while working
Speaker 1: in a refugee camp on the border of Bangladesh and Myanmar,
Speaker 1: Doctor David Nayon discovered a breakthrough treatment for patients who
Speaker 1: were suffering from diarrhoea. He realised that giving patients water
Speaker 1: mixed with the right concentration of salt and sugar would
Speaker 1: rehydrate them at the same rate at which they lost water.
Speaker 1: Now this prevented death from dehydration much more cheaply than
Speaker 1: did the conventional treatment.
Speaker 1: Using an intravenous drip, and since then, this astonishingly simple
Speaker 1: treatment has been used all over the world. The annual
Speaker 1: rate of child deaths from diarrhoea has plummeted from 5
Speaker 1: million to 1.3 million, and the researchers estimate that the
Speaker 1: therapy has saved at least 50 million lives, mostly the
Speaker 1: lives of children. The Bible says very clearly in Ecclesiastes 3:1,
Speaker 1: for everything that happens in life, there is a season,
Speaker 1: a right time.
Speaker 1: For everything under Earth. We're born into this world to
Speaker 1: make a difference, and every life matters. Each is specifically
Speaker 1: purposed and designed by the Creator of the universe. You're
Speaker 1: not an accident. You were put on Earth to make
Speaker 1: a contribution. You weren't created just to consume resources, to eat, breathe,
Speaker 1: and take up space. God designed you to make a
Speaker 1: difference with your life. This is one of God's purposes
Speaker 1: for your life. It's called your ministry or your service,
Speaker 1: and I'm not just talking about the.
Speaker 1: Priests or clergy or ministers, all of us can serve
Speaker 1: God in the Christian faith by surrendering our lives to
Speaker 1: Jesus Christ. A business man I heard of and his
Speaker 1: wife took a few days of relaxation at an oceanfront hotel.
Speaker 1: One night, a violent storm lashed the beach and sent
Speaker 1: massive breakers thundering against the shore. The wind finally died down,
Speaker 1: and shortly before daybreak, the man slipped out of bed
Speaker 1: and took a walk along the beach to see what
Speaker 1: damage had been done.
Speaker 1: He saw that the beach was literally covered with starfish
Speaker 1: that had been thrown ashore and there were stranded by
Speaker 1: the great waves, and once the morning sun would begin
Speaker 1: to burn through the clouds, the starfish would dry out
Speaker 1: and die. And suddenly he saw another interesting sight.
Speaker 1: A young boy was picking up the starfish one at
Speaker 1: a time and flinging them back into the ocean. Why
Speaker 1: are you doing that? the man asked the boy. Can't
Speaker 1: you see that you'll never be able to get all
Speaker 1: those starfish back into the water in time? What difference
Speaker 1: can you make? There are just too many. The boy
Speaker 1: sighed as he picked up another starfish and threw it
Speaker 1: back into the water. He said with a smile to
Speaker 1: the man, Well, I sure made a difference to that.
Speaker 1: One, the businessman stopped and he began picking up the starfish.
Speaker 1: Neither you or I may be able to make a
Speaker 1: big difference to the world, but we can make a
Speaker 1: huge difference in the little part of the world that
Speaker 1: surrounds us. When we're kind to someone and they turn
Speaker 1: around and are kind to the next person, and regardless
Speaker 1: of how I help, I will remember the words of
Speaker 1: Jesus whenever you did it for any of my people.
Speaker 1: No matter how unimportant I seemed, you did it for me.
Speaker 1: Heavenly Father, today, I do know that I can make
Speaker 1: a difference, even if I think I can't. For Lord,
Speaker 1: when we do something for you, it's multiplied so many times.
Speaker 1: We never know, Lord, what you've got in store for
Speaker 1: us as we offer acts of kindness to those that
Speaker 1: we meet, and I thank you for that possibility in Jesus' name. Amen.