Just before he ascended
into heaven Jesus gave his followers what we have come to call the Great
Commission. It was a call to go out and
change the world. Our mission as the people
of God has not changed. We are still
under the mandate to change the world for Christ. As we have seen in studying the Lord’s Prayer, the second element
of that prayer is a petition that God’s kingdom would come and His will would
be done on earth in the same way that it is in heaven.
The goal of changing the
world is a high and lofty one. It
staggers the imagination, especially when we try to consider how we as
individuals might bring it about. And
therein lies the major obstacle. When
we look at the size of the task and then take personal inventory, we can easily
feel overwhelmed. After all, we’re only
one person. Chances are we see
ourselves as having little influence, especially on a global scale. Sometimes when we realize that we can’t do
everything, we don’t do anything.
God doesn’t expect us, as
individuals, to change the whole world by ourselves. But he does expect each of His children to do their part. Maybe we can’t change the world, but
we can change our world. When we
pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,”
the place on earth to begin is in our own lives. The most important place for us to bring in the kingdom of God is
into the six inches of real estate that lies between our ears. When the kingdom of God is firmly
established in our minds our world will change. Our thoughts, words, and deeds will reflect the love, compassion,
and power of God. When God fully rules
in our lives we reach out to those at our fingertips. We begin to influence others for the kingdom of God, and
consequently we begin to change the world.
When we desire to change the world, the place to begin is with ourselves. To be able to bring true healing to a hurting world we need to experience healing ourselves. Right now, you may not feel like you can change the world, but you can ask the Lord to change your world. And as you allow him to touch your life you’ll find that you are changing the world. Be a world changer!