Isaiah 57:20
“But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.”
There are different types of impacts you can make on people. Some impact people for good, and some impact people for bad. Your desire as a believer is that you should make an impact for good. The difference between making an impact on people for good or bad depends on what you do with the “i” in impact. If you don't make the “i” an issue as you try to make an impact, you can make a great difference in the lives of people. If you make the “i” an issue in your life, you will impact people, but not for good.
There are three types of people who make an impact. The first type of person is the individual who digs up the dirt and mire on people and spreads it to make themselves look better. The verse above says the wicked “cast up mire and dirt.” Some in this life try to make themselves a leader by spreading the dirt and mire about people. I would never want to follow this type of person because they will eventually find the mire and dirt about you and spread it to make sure you don't take their limelight. Only a wicked person is interested in the mire and dirt of another. Let me remind you that the one who digs up the mire and dirt of another does so to hide the mire and dirt in their own life because ALL are sinners. These that dig up the mire and dirt often say they are cleaning up a movement, but it is not their job to clean up anything; that is God’s area.
The second type of person is the one who tries to impress people with their knowledge. 1 Corinthians 8:1 says, “Now as touching things offered unto idols, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth.” This person tries to make an impact by showing others what they know, but they are about showing how smart they are more than they are with helping people. Watch out for the person who wants to show how much more they know than the preacher; they are doing so to lift themselves up rather than to help people.
The third type of person is those that build up by charity. Notice in 1 Corinthians 8:1, “charity edifieth.” Charity is invested love. In other words, the person who loves people so much to invest their lives in others is a person of charity. This person of charity is often the bus worker, the Sunday school teacher, the ministry worker, the pastor, or the soul winner. They don't do these things for themselves, but they do these things to build the lives of people.
Now, all three types of people make an impact, but only one makes an impact for good. Two people do their actions to make themselves look better; one does their actions to make another look better. It truly does come down to the purpose for why you are trying to make an impact. If the “i” in impact is your purpose, you will not care about what you have to do to make an impact, including destroying others to build yourself. However, if you keep the “i” in impact in lowercase, your only purpose in making an impact will be to build lives.
Let me ask, what is your purpose for making an impact? Is it about you or others? If you will die to self and live to invest your lives in others, you can make an impact on the lives of others for good. When you are only concerned with building lives, you will find that you will not be concerned with you being the focus of the impact.