Leaving a positive impact
Published 8:19 am Friday, June 21, 2019
BY PASTOR BRANDON YOUNG
What does the word “impact” mean to you? According to the dictionary, an impact is “having a strong effect on someone or something.” We can make a negative or a positive impact depending on how we choose to live. While we live, we are certainly making a lasting impact on those around us, and once we are passed away the impact we made will be left behind as a testimony to our life whether good or bad. We must be careful to live like our Lord Jesus Christ so that our life we have a positive and lasting impact. There are so many stories in God’s Word in which someone made a positive impact on the world around them, but I want to look specially at a story from Acts chapter 9 about a woman named Tabitha.
Tabitha, a woman at Joppa, made an enormous impact on her community by always doing good and helping the poor. In this scripture, you will notice that she is called by two different names — The Hebrew name was Tabitha and her Greek name was Dorcas. Both names meant “gazelle.” The gazelle is used symbolically in the Bible in three specific ways. Gazelles were symbols of grace, beauty, and swiftness and speed. Dorcas’ name was appropriate because she was a person who showed the grace of God in action toward needy people. She was a beautiful person in spirit toward others and she was swift to meet the needs when she saw them. She was ready to impact the lives of those around her. She saw individuals with nothing to wear, and she knew she would use her talent to remedy that problem.
She made robes and other clothing for the poor. When this story took place, there were few people in the culture who were more destitute than widows. They were usually considered the neediest people in society. They couldn’t get much of a job to buy food let alone buy other things they needed. Dorcas stepped in to help fill that great need in society. She saw a need and a cause to make an impact. If we would only look around us, I can guarantee that we would see ways in which we could truly make a lasting and positive impact. Currently, the needs of society are great, and God is waiting on us to do something about it to relieve the pain and sufferings of others.
Let’s take a closer look at Tabitha’s story. She was a disciple of Jesus Christ. A little before this time, the Christians were being persecuted in Jerusalem; and as a result, believers were scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria. Scripture tells us that these believers — “those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the Word” (Acts 8:4). Maybe Dorcas was one of the ones who heard the Word as a result of these scattered believers. She became a believer and a devoted follower of Jesus — a disciple. She displayed her love for Christ in very practical ways. Scripture tells us that she was “full of good works and charitable deeds.” “Good works” is a phrase that speaks of general acts of kindness to people, but “charitable deeds” is more specific and has to do with acts of mercy that relieve the burdens of the poor and needy. These specific acts of mercy to make life better for these destitute widows was making clothes for them. Dorcas was continually at work meeting the pressing needs of those around her. She didn’t just do these things in a half-hearted manner, but she was filled with such deeds. Apparently, she loved to sew and was good at it. She probably saw a piece of beautiful cloth and had ideas about what she could make out of it and who could benefit. It didn’t just stay at the idea stage, but she made it a reality. She didn’t just do these charitable deeds once in a great while but was always working on some project. It was her life!
Living at the town of Joppa, an important seaport town located on the Mediterranean coast 30 miles east of Jerusalem, she was in the mainstream where Peter came and preached the good news to Gentiles. This account is sandwiched right in the middle of Saul of Tarsus’ conversion and the account of Cornelius calling for Peter to come and speak to his family. Later this was followed up by Paul’s ministry to the Gentile world. Dorcas was a disciple who was strategically placed in the right place at the right time to minister to needs that she had been gifted to handle.
Dorcas went beyond just saying, “Good luck to you” or “I love you dearly, and I’ll pray for you.” She showed in a very practical way that she could make these women’s lives better for at least a day. Dorcas followed Jesus’ example when he fed the 5000. He did good through his ministry of mercy. Mercy is God’s attitude toward those in distress. It’s just making someone’s life better, if only for today. He said, “I have compassion on these people…I do not want to send them away hungry” (Matthew 15:32). He did not solve all the world’s hunger problems, and Dorcas did not solve the destitute widows’ financial problems, but they did make these people’s lives better for that day.
Sometimes we are paralyzed by inaction. We often think, “What good will this little act of kindness do?” Jesus said, “Be merciful, just as your Father in heaven is merciful” (Luke 6:36).
At her death, the tearful widows came into the room and showed Peter the clothes Dorcas made for them while she was “with them.” It wasn’t just the clothes — it was her friendship and interaction in their lives. Her life had been woven into their lives. She lived among these people daily! She knew when they needed a word of encouragement as well as a new coat. She didn’t just make the clothes and send them somewhere. She was “with them.” She was willing to get involved in their life struggles as well. They were considered the least of these probably by many — and were overlooked and ignored. One day at our passing, what will we leave folks to hold? Randy Travis’ song entitled Three Wooden Crosses says this, “I guess it’s not what you take when you leave this world behind you, It’s what you leave behind you when you go.” Very powerful lyrics indeed, and so true. What are you leaving behind? I pray that each of us are making a positive impact, and we leave this world better than when we first found it. I want to conclude with a powerful story I happen to come across in my studies.
Martem Tenens (later to be named Saint Martin) was born in what is now Hungary and was drafted into Constantine’s army at age 15. As a tribune at the age of 18, on a bitterly cold day in Gaul, Martem came across a beggar, naked and shivering. Martem, a follower of Christ, slashed his heavy military cloak in two with his sword and gave half of it to the beggar. That night, sleeping under his half cloak, Jesus appeared to him in a dream wearing the other half and commended Martem for his mercy. “When you did it to the least of these brothers of mine, you did it for me.” If we really believed that our actions toward the “least of these” were actions toward or against Jesus, would these little acts of mercy have greater meaning for us? Would we strive to make a bigger and more positive impact? I certainly tend to believe we would. Let’s change our world daily by living like our Lord Jesus Christ! You can truly make a positive IMPACT!
(The Solution Column is provided by Pastor Brandon Young of Harmony Free Will Baptist Church, Hampton, and his associate, Hunter Greene.)