A Life That Matters: Making the Greatest Possible Difference with the Rest of Your Life

By Ron Hutchcraft

The choice to live an ordinary life is no longer an option! Greatness-lasting greatness-is a desire built into every human heart. For the believer in Christ, it is not only possible, but expected. How will your life matter? God wants your life to count for eternity. He wants you to join the team of rescuers He is sending into a desperate world.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Moody Publishers
• Release date: Oct 1, 2007
• ISBN: 9781575674544

Ron Hutchcraft

Ron Hutchcraft is a veteran ministry leader, speaker, founder and president of Ron Hutchcraft Ministries and On Eagles’ Wings Native American youth outreach. He is the author of A Life That Matters, Peaceful Living in a Stressful World, The Battle for a Generation, and more. His popular radio feature, A Word with You, is heard daily on over 1,300 outlets, and in the five most spoken languages of the world. Ron and his late wife Karen have three children and nine grandchildren.

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Introduction:

"A LIFE THAT

 MATTERS"

Peter Parker was an ordinary guy—actually, a slightly geeky teenager. Then he got bitten by a radioactive spider. Or so goes the story of the classic comic strip, Spiderman. Suddenly, Mr. Everyday Guy began to discover he had acquired amazing powers, which he ultimately decided to use to fight evil and do good. Nice superhero story. Ah, but there’s more!

In the movie version of the Spiderman saga, Peter Parker—now realizing the power he has to make a difference—makes this thought-provoking statement: For me, the choice to live an ordinary life is no longer an option.

For me and for more and more people I’m meeting, an ordinary life is becoming something we don’t want to settle for. And we’re realizing that the routines and rhythms of what we do every day are too ordinary to fulfill our lifelong hunger for purpose and meaning. We know there’s more; we’re not sure what it is. I wrote this book for people who want to leave a legacy . . . who want the one life they have to really count . . . who sense this drive inside that says, "I want to make a far greater difference with the rest of my life than I’ve made up until now."

For many Americans, the horrifying events of September 11, 2001, were, and continue to be, defining. Watching nearly three thousand people go to eternity in minutes, interrupting the kind of everyday activities that we all engage in, has caused many to reevaluate what really matters in life and what really doesn’t.

David Townsend provides one example of a life perspective that was changed profoundly by what happened on that fatal September 11. According to USA Today, he said of those events: From that moment forward, I realized that we are not going to live forever. I felt an even greater sense of urgency, felt compelled to leave my mark on the world. It has changed my outlook totally and shaken me to the core. That impact was so great that Townsend left his job in waste management to work in social services with the homeless and with urban churches. He concluded: September 11 reinforced in me the need to live a life that matters.¹

A life that matters. That’s it. That’s what I am restless for and what you are restless for, whether you are a student, a laborer, a businessperson, a Gen-Xer, a baby boomer, or a person who is finally enjoying retirement. I was struck by a Family Circus cartoon that I saw awhile ago. The family’s little boy had just left the cemetery where he and his father were visiting Grandpa’s fresh grave. On the tombstone was Grandpa’s name, along with his date of birth and his date of death, with the customary dash in between. The boy made an observation that I haven’t been able to shake: "Daddy, I guess Grandpa’s life was just the dash between the numbers."

So is your life and mine. More than ever, we are aware of our mortality and we want the one life we have—that dash between the numbers—to make an impact, even beyond our short time on this planet. Harvard philosopher and author, William James, put into a few well-chosen words the destiny drive in our soul: The greatest use of life is to spend it for something that will outlast it.²

That lasting meaning in our lives is not just something we want—it reflects what God wants for our life. We want it because our Creator wants it! He has, on the scroll of His plans for you, written a series of life-assignments that are the differences you are hungry for. This book is written as a road map for the ultimate cause that a person can dedicate his or her life to. And, surprisingly, it is not so much about adding new things to your life (which is probably already overloaded) as it is about adding lasting meaning to the things you already do. Everyday stuff doesn’t ever have to be everyday stuff again.

When God looks at His exciting work on earth, He makes this heartbreaking observation: The workers are few (Matthew 9:37). When we look at the unfulfilling ordinary-ness of our everyday lives, we stand back and say that there’s got to be more. At the place where the worker crisis and our restlessness intersect, we find the secret of a life bigger than we ever imagined.

While the idea of a life full of impact is inspiring, inspiring isn’t enough to take us where we want to go. It has to be practical, as well. That’s why so much of this book is devoted to how’s that have been discovered, not in a classroom or conference room, but in the laboratory of everyday life. As you read, you will discover that some of the how’s practiced by previous generations of God’s people often are insufficient for the new realities of the 21st century. That’s why I’m grateful that, for nearly three decades, God placed me in settings where I was assaulted daily by the real needs and real questions of real people—often people who had little or no knowledge of the Creator whose purposes we are made for. But they taught me much about what it will take to leave a lasting impact on our generation—insights which undergird the intensely practical sections of this blueprint for a life that matters.

I’ve learned that as soon as I start talking about my restlessness with ordinary, I am not alone. Start talking about this where you are—even at and especially at your church—and you will find there is an epidemic of spiritual restlessness. But that restlessness is good news. Because it is the first step on the road to spiritual greatness.

For you, for them, the choice to live an ordinary life need no longer be an option.

Identifying Restlessness

My friend Don is more successful in his business than ever, more involved with his family than ever, more active in serving God than ever. He attends the most thriving church in his area. But in his heart, he feels restless. Recently he bluntly summed up that feeling. I’m just sick and tired of the status quo, he told me. There’s got to be more.

That is a restlessness many of us are feeling. Our life is full—maybe very full—but it’s not fulfilling. We feel a haunting hollowness inside, a hunger for something that is missing in all our Christianness. Like Don, we’re sick and tired of the status quo. We’re ready for something more.

Most of us have lived long enough to realize that earth stuff can never be enough to satisfy our souls and give our lives a sense of personal destiny. The hunger for something more is intensified every time we reach a goal we thought would make us fulfilled, only to discover that we are still hungry.

For Gwen, that goal was to get her Ph.D. degree and become a psychiatrist. She pursued her dream tenaciously, earned that degree, and is now living her dream as a Christian in the mental health field. But last month she confided one problem with her dream: I’m just not enjoying being a psychiatrist, she told me. Gwen is not alone. Many who thought the achieving of a major career goal would be ultimately fulfilling have come up surprisingly restless at the top of their personal Mount Everest.

A few years ago, Ken Hatfield, then football coach at the University of Arkansas, spoke at a Billy Graham Crusade. I remember vividly his testimony of disappointment at the top. In 1964, Ken Hatfield had been a player for Arkansas when they beat Nebraska for the national championship. He told of how he picked up the newspaper the morning after the game and read the headline he had dreamed of: Arkansas #1! He then told the crusade crowd, At the moment of my greatest achievement, I was so depressed. I have not forgotten his four-word explanation: My god had died.

So often, we pour ourselves into achieving a career goal or a personal goal, only to find ourselves with the goal in hand and still deeply unsatisfied.

Some of us make achieving some level of financial security one of life’s major quests. All my life I thought if I had $10,000 in the bank, I’d feel satisfied and successful, my friend Roger said recently. I’ve got a lot more than that now. That’s not it. Clearly having financial security does little to answer the something more cry of our souls.

Our pursuit of personal fulfillment and significance goes far beyond just material goals, though. We hope for—and, to differing degrees, find—emotional success to make our lives complete. From the first human being, God said, It is not good for the man to be alone (Genesis 2:18). We were created for relationship, so we put many of our emotional eggs in the basket of loving relationships. And there is no doubt that strong friendships, a healthy marriage, and a close family help complete us, just as God intended. New vistas of human closeness open up for us when we come to Christ and also discover the fellowship of those who belong to Him. For many, the church becomes a spiritual nest where we can find safety and growth in the fellowship of God’s people.

The status quo that my friend says he is sick and tired of is not unpleasant. He has a great family, a great church, and a great business. Like him, many of your pursuits—educational, financial, emotional, spiritual—may bring you real joy, real pleasure, even satisfaction. But it’s just not enough. Not enough to quiet the restlessness in your soul. Not enough to give you that sense of legacy, destiny, and significance that every human soul is wired for.

Even a position of Christian leadership may not satisfy the hunger for that something more. In fact, many Christian leaders today feel that same unexplainable restlessness that stirs the hearts of everyday believers. I have talked with many of them, and they, too, are ready to move beyond spiritual business as usual.

Never More Fulfilled

Immediately after his graduation from a Christian college, our son Doug went to the southwestern United States to begin a ministry to the young people of a remote Native American tribe. Since his missionary support had only started to come in, he had little money to work with. His first bed was a table in a tiny church storeroom—he said he preferred the table to the floor to avoid the little critters who ruled the floor at night. It is hard to describe the sense of isolation he felt geographically, socially, and spiritually.

We will never forget the call we got from him early one morning, about two weeks into his new life. He had driven eight miles to get to a phone, and he was watching the sun rise as he talked to us. We were eager to know how he was doing. He was straightforward as usual in telling us.

Mom and Dad—when I was in college, I could get money together when I needed it, Doug said. I had friends all around me; I had a girl (whom he had broken up with because she was admittedly not ready to share his calling). Basically, I was comfortable. Our parents’ hearts ached as he went on to say, In some ways, I’ve never felt as alone as I do now. But what followed is what amazed us. "I have none of what I had before—but that’s OK. I have never been more fulfilled, more at peace, in my life!"

Our son was experiencing what so many of us are restless for—a deep, deep sense of fulfillment and peace about our lives. We want our lives to really matter, to really count, to make the greatest possible difference.

A Life of Greatness

There is, in every human soul, the need to be part of something much bigger than any earth achievement, or even any earth relationship, can offer. We aspire to a life of greatness, lasting greatness. We want a life that matters. Last year’s champion is soon forgotten in the wake of this year’s hero. The name on the door of your office is replaced in minutes with the name of your successor. The children you revolve your life around seem to need you less and less with every passing year. The excitement of getting what you always wanted is soon replaced by the desire for something bigger or better.

Today’s front-page star will soon be tomorrow’s page-twenty footnote. One unsettling word hangs over all those earth-things that give our lives some sense of greatness: temporary. No friendship, no championship, no scholarship, no relationship, no ownership, no fellowship can fully satisfy our God-given hunger for something that will be great forever.

In his famous poem The Hollow Men, T. S. Eliot concludes with these troubling words:

This is the way the world ends

Not with a bang but with a whimper.

That is exactly how we do not want the rest of our years on earth to be—a whimper rather than a bang. Our hearts are yearning for a future that is truly great, great in God’s eyes.

Our sick and tired of the status quo feelings are actually a magnet drawing us toward the greater greatness for which we were created. Our restlessness is actually a holy discontentment. In fact, it is likely that God has made you restless! The Bible says of God’s ancient people, "He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known (Deuteronomy 8:3, italics added). God made them hungry for the powerful work He was about to bring into their lives. He may be stirring up the same kind of appetite in you, because He wants you so hungry for His more that you will pursue it. The people who feel spiritually full and satisfied may never taste the manna" He has for those who are hungry.

As Mary reflected on God’s drafting of her to be the mother of the Messiah, she concluded that he has filled the hungry with good things (Luke 1:53). After many years of spiritual heroism, God’s great servant Paul said he was still pressing on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it (Philippians 3:12–13). There is in a healthy Jesus-follower this incurable restlessness, this holy hunger for the rest of what God wants to give us.

If you are one of God’s spiritually restless ones right now, there is great news for you: Restlessness usually precedes a powerful touch of God on a person’s life. God has made you hungry so He can feed you with something much bigger, something much more filling.

The stirring inside you is, in fact, a spiritual summons from your Lord, a summons to a destiny that will make the rest of your years the best of your years. You are being called to a life that matters. This is greatness by God’s definition. Answering that call will put you on the superhighway to the something more your heart is craving.

Beyond a Small World to a Great Vision

Anyone who has taken their child to Disney World or Disneyland has almost surely been required by Junior or Junietta to ride the ride. It’s this little boat you take along the winding channel of a brightly colored canal.

You are surrounded on all sides by singing dolls representing children from every part of the world. The Japanese kids are singing in their kimonos, the Mexican muchachos in their sombreros and serapes, the young Africans in their tribal colors. But no matter what part of the world they are from, they are all singing the same song with the same refrain: It’s a small world, after all. Over and over again they sing, It’s a small world, after all. . . . It’s a small, small world.

And it’s cute—for a while. But after the ninety-third chorus of that little song, I was about to leap overboard and swim the rest of the way just to get out of that tunnelful of cute. Inside you are screaming, I am sick of a small, small world!

Jesus’ call to greatness is for those of us who feel that way about our life. As busy and as Christian as your life is, it may be feeling more and more like a small, small world. And you’re ready to break out into a larger, more significant future. You’re ready for the magnificent obsession that comes from the heart of God and into your heart. You’re ready to live a life that matters!

1

OUT OF THE

HOLDING PATTERN

"THOSE WHO LEAD MANY TO RIGHTEOUSNESS

(WILL SHINE) LIKE THE STARS FOR EVER AND EVER."

DANIEL 12:3

Ithought I had seen the scenery below me before. The pilot soon confirmed my suspicion: our flight had been placed in a holding pattern. That meant we were no longer making any forward progress; we were just continuing to circle the ground we had covered before.

You can get tired of being in a holding pattern really fast. Especially if it’s your life that seems to be in a holding pattern. Like a circling aircraft, your life does not seem to be standing still. There is plenty of activity around you. It’s just that you aren’t really going anywhere. Spiritually, the ground looks all too familiar. And your soul wants more. That’s because you were designed for more—much more.

King Solomon revealed that more in his personal diary, the book of Ecclesiastes. In a penetrating insight, Solomon noted that God has also set eternity in the hearts of men (Ecclesiastes 3:11). You and I have eternity in our hearts. There is a dimension of you that cannot be fulfilled by anything that will end. You have an appetite from God for that which you can never lose, that which will last forever. Anything else is just too small.

So a life that is filled mostly with earth-stuff and earth-pursuits is going to be ultimately unsatisfying. Your small world restlessness may be your heart’s warning sign that you have an eternity deficit, a deficit God is ready and waiting to satisfy. He is waiting to give you a passion you can pursue on earth that will fill you with the excitement of eternality. It is, in fact, the passion which Jesus pursued all the way to the cross.

The Restless Ones

God has made you restless for more because He wants to eternalize your life—to make it count for that which will last forever. And you will never be satisfied with less. So much won’t last forever. Your job accomplishments, your home, your bank account, your sports, your stuff—none of it will last forever. Our days just fill up with a lot that is un-eternal and, therefore, unfulfilling. And even our discretionary time tends to fill up with trivial pursuits—a numbing bombardment of small talk, the mental junk food of TV, innumerable hours of sporting events, entertainment, or being lost in cyberspace.

But amidst all the demands and distractions of the un-eternal, there is this quiet but relentless voice crying out, "Give me more; give me something that matters . . . something that will matter forever."

And the number of the restless ones seems to be growing steadily. Everywhere I go, I meet men and women and young people who answer an eager yes! when I ask this question, "Do you ever feel a stirring inside that is saying something like this: I want to make a greater difference with the rest of my life than I have made until now"?

That passion to make a greater difference with the rest of your life comes from the One who gave you your life . . . who gave His life for you! And only He can satisfy that desire to make a difference. And He will—if you will follow Him into the very eternal pursuit He has made you restless for.

Called to Something Bigger

Some people have a very long memory. Then Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin sure did in 1991 during the first Gulf War. I heard a report of a press conference he held during the time that Iraq was firing Scud missiles into Israel. Most of us who followed the news at that time will never forget the eerie sights of Israeli civilians donning their gas masks at the first sound of a missile alarm.

The (first) George Bush was the president of the United States, and he had asked Israel not to escalate the situation by retaliating against Iraq. At the press conference, a reporter asked Prime Minister Rabin how he felt about the president’s request. He paused for a moment, and then with a twinkle in his eye responded, The last time the Jews listened to a talking bush, we wandered in the wilderness for forty years!

Actually, the last time there was a talking bush (the one time there was a talking bush), the Jews were soon after liberated from four centuries of Egyptian slavery during the exodus. The story of Moses’s