Not if, but WHAT impact?

So I just got out of the shower, my "thinking place" due to the nature of having a few quiet minutes, and it dawned on me in there that the quote I just put at the end of my last post this morning could be taken farther than what I first thought.  Here it is again in case you missed it: 

"If you think you are too small to make a difference, you have never spent the night with a mosquito." - saying in Kenya

My original intended point was simply to communicate that an individual can have a big impact in the world.  In the context of what I was writing about, I hope that was clear.  In the shower, it pressed further on my mind the idea that individuals not only can make a difference, they necessarily do...the question is what impact am I as an individual having?  And what impact are you having?  The small mosquito, for example, has an impact, but not a welcome one if you are the human now covered with itchy welts.
Mark 3:1-6 came to mind...take a minute to consider it with me. 

And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand. 2 So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. 3 And He said to the man who had the withered hand,  "Step forward."  4 Then He said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they kept silent. 5 And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.   6 Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him. 

None of us are walking around as neutral influences.  When presented with the scenario of a man with a withered hand, Jesus asks those standing ready to accuse Him if it is lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?  He didn't ask is it lawful to choose to heal or refrain from healing, both being equally loving options.  The Pharisees who immediately plotted with the Herodians against Jesus were not being neutral...they were going to make a big impact, were they not?

Of course, speaking specifically of Judas, we're told in Mark 14:21 that "The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had never been born."  There was something bigger going on, orchestrated by God Himself for the very redemption of His people, when Judas and the Pharisees and the Herodians and others who refused to believe Jesus was who He said He was worked together to crucify Jesus.  Our God is amazingly able to use sin sinlessly to bring about His purposes...He indeed works ALL  things together for His glory and the good of His people.  But that is a different topic.  My point here is that we are all making a difference, all having an impact on our world around us...we are not neutral.  Every day is filled with opportunities to display the love of God or obscure it, and how we respond matters more than we may think when you consider the ripple effects through all eternity.  And there are real woes for those who oppose God and real blessings for those who delight in Him and seek to imitate Him in their lives.

You and I WILL make a difference today...will the impact we have be honoring to the One who holds the universe together?  When we have the opportunity and ability to do good, do we do it?  Will we intentionally live what we say we believe?

"The man who will not lead his flock up the mountainside leads it down without knowing it." - A.W. Tozer