It is true that you never get a second chance to make a first impression. Impressions count. We can make a bad impression just as easily as we can make a good one. How we respond in various situations. How we show up…early, on time, or late? The way we dress and the way we engage with people…all leave some kind of an impression. But impressions come and go. Think of walking on the beach near the ocean. As we walk we leave footprints in the sand. Each time a wave rolls in – the impression of our presence there is washed away. Don’t mistake what I’m saying. It is important to make a good first impression. As believers, we are called to be different, to be image bearers of the King.

You know what is even more important than making an impression. Making an impact! Having a powerful effect on our sphere of influence…now that is impact. Imagine walking along that same beach only this time instead of focusing on how the waves are washing away our footprints we find ourselves noticing our surroundings and see a number of starfish, or where I live it would be horseshoe crabs, that have washed up onto the sand. We could show up just in time as they are washing up on the shore. We could speak kind words to them. Pitch a giant beach umbrella to help keep the sun from beating down on them directly. We could even encourage them that they are so close to the water if they would only move a little farther they could get back in the water where they belong. That might impress them. But what they really need is someone to help them get back to where they need to be. Where they were born to thrive…in the ocean! Actually helping them get back into the water…THAT is making an impact!

Galatians 6:2 from The Passion Translation says this: “Love empowers us to fulfill the law of the Anointed One as we carry each other’s troubles.” Do we just want to make an impression or will we push through to make an impact to the Kingdom?!