Impact!
It’s quite a word. It speaks of the action of one object coming forcibly into contact with another. Thus it now refers to the effect or influence of a person on another. The word originally came from a Latin word which meant to press closely and is related to another Latin word impingere from which we get the English word impinge — the negative side of impact that can be described as “encroaching without permission.” One would certainly want to be known as the kind of person who impacts without encroaching. Enough etymology. Let’s get to the so-what-ology.
Here I am in Eastern Europe, preparing today to teach another purity seminar — this time at Emanuel University in Oradia, Romania. Last evening I spoke at a church auditorium in Timisoara, filled with young adults. Tonight I will be at another meeting with university students from all over this region. The days following are even more filled with purity seminars. I do not lack for audiences. That’s not what is troubling my heart.
After all is said and done, how will I really know whether I am having positive impact on these precious Romanian people or, for that matter, on any of the people with whom I come in contact, whether here, there or at home? Do I measure by the size of the crowds? Certainly not. After four decades of ministry, I have more fully come to appreciate the timeless words of Mark Twain, who quipped, “Thunder is impressive, but it is lightning that does the work.” Do I dare even measure my impact by the initial response of the people? Again, I have come to realize that this, too, is fleeting. People often respond, sometimes with courteous applause and certainly some out of genuine appreciation. But is that really why I am here? My sinful ego certainly doesn’t need another trip down that lane.
James, the brother of the Lord, observed that too many in his day had become “professional listeners” — not unlike the “we will listen to anything new” philosophers the Apostle Paul confronted on Mars Hill (cf. Acts 17). Like me, James was quite familiar with the crowds who listened eagerly, even responded openly but nonetheless left the scene uncommitted to lasting change. To them and to us he wrote these now popular lines. Sadly, their popularity causes us to race over the words and has gotten in the way of our much-needed meditation. So this time, read it once again — as if for the first time.
“But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for once he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the law of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man will be blessed in what he does.” James 1:22-25
What then is the true measure of impact? Changed hearts. Changed attitudes. Changed behaviors. No surprise here. However, let me “encroach without permission” on all of us. As we pray for that kind of life-changing impact here in Romania and around the world, let us pray for ourselves, as well. What are we DOING about what we have been HEARING concerning our own walk of purity?
I encourage us all to read (or re-read) the ten short pages in chapter 41 of “The Purity War”. May God be pleased to see in us the genuine impact of His Word that divinely impacts and yes, even rightly “encroaches without permission” on all of our lives.
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