Think of the people who have had deep impact on your life – people whose influence caused you to change as a person.
My guess is that, with a possible exception here and there, all of those people had a relationship with you, and the deeper the relationship, the deeper the impact.
It’s not that God cannot impact people remotely, through speakers at conferences, musicians at a concert or even televangelists. Event impact, though, is often an emotionally driven, first step, type of impact; one that needs to be followed up on by someone who can commit to a longer relationship with a person. Remember that passage from Paul in 1 Corinthians 3? One person plants and another waters… and we could go on to say that one weeds and another harvests. Paul’s point is that no one is more important than another. My point is that all of those people invested in someone at phases in their life.
Investment takes time: Time is required to grow trust, and trust is required for deep impact.
Another quick word about impact through deeper relationships… it almost always runs both ways. Those kind of people in your life will impact you, even as God uses you to impact them. This mutual growth fosters even closer friendships.
So who do you run into each day? What steps might you take to grow a deeper relationship with them? It will take sacrifice on your part. Are you ready to step up and give up some things for someone else?
Let the adventure begin!