Why You Matter

One day in a little Australian town called Byron Bay I noticed a sign that read “I saw the universe change today.” Whoever wrote those words was paying attention.

Everything we do makes a difference. That is a lot of responsibility—but we aren’t alone. God, who made us and gave us choices, will also help us make good decisions when we ask for His help.

God could have made us machines. Or slaves. Or free moral agents (beings able to choose and act). God picked the third option, and we make choices and do things that have eternal impact. God created humanity “in His own image” (Gen. 1:27), and every human being has the power to think and to do things.

What we do matters. What we do creates relationships, either positive or negative, that otherwise would not exist. There are people—real people with names and faces—who are who they are, and love what they love, because of us.

Every act of love we perform makes a difference to the course of history and, therefore, in the eternal plan of reality itself. Look at it this way: If I speak a word of encouragement to a heavy heart, it matters on a grand and heavenly scale. If I visit a sick person and envelop their heart in compassion, that deed means something of huge worth. If I feed a hungry child, doing so establishes a vital experience of generosity in that child’s life, as well as in God’s existence as the one who loves that child as Himself.

These ideas may be difficult to understand at first. But here is an important question we should ask ourselves: What will we do with our lives today, this very hour?

Look around. Men, women, and children await our impact, crave our love, and may be spiritually blessed by our example. These people may be made alive by our kind words, forever saved because we’ve revealed the Saviour’s heart to them—and they’ve chosen Him because of our example.

“I saw the universe change today.” It changed because of my choices and yours. 

This article was written by Ty Gibson and adapted for KidsView. It first appeared in the July 2013 KidsView.