How to Change the World

How to Change the World

Romans 12:1-2

“The world isn’t on the right path, and if we don’t like it we need to change it.”

So said Raymond Knous in 2006.  That was ten years ago—and it’s still true today.  In fact, many of us would say that it’s truer today than ten years ago.

            We prefer to blame someone else for the world’s wrong direction.  It’s the government’s fault.  Or the schools’ fault.  Or that other country’s fault—you know, the one whose political system is different from ours.  Or the other party’s presidential candidate.  Or the liberals’ fault, or the conservatives’ fault—anyone but ours.

            To a certain extent, it is the government’s fault, and the schools’ fault, and the liberals’ fault and the conservatives’ fault—because it’s everybody’s fault; and that includes us!

            What we don’t want to admit is that we are all responsible for the state of the world.  Someone once said we get the government we deserve, and that’s a good observation.  If those who don’t vote don’t like the shape of the country, they have no one to blame but themselves.  If we don’t like the people who are running for office, we have no one to blame but ourselves.  It’s our job in a democracy to 1) vote; 2) get involved in the process of choosing candidates; 3) get involved in supporting candidates; and 4) if we don’t like any of the candidates, perhaps to run for office ourselves.

            If we don’t like the schools it’s our job to get involved and change them.  Any school administrator will tell you that the golden charm for making schools work is parental involvement.  I’ve worked in schools where parents were involved in their children’s education, both in ensuring their children were doing the work assigned to them and in holding the schools to high standards.  I’ve worked in schools where these things didn’t happen.  I can tell you from firsthand experience that parental involvement makes a difference.

            What about Christians?  Should we be any less involved with getting the world on the right path?  Should we leave the “things of the world” to the world and concentrate on religion?  Absolutely not!  If anything, Christians should be more involved, because our mission as God’s people is to change the world.  Knous is right:  If we don’t like the path the world is on, we must realize that God is calling us to get it on the right path.

            Paul understood that changing the world begins with changing ourselves.  We are—each of us—to be a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.  Paul also knew that no change was possible if we didn’t change our minds—and that begins with repentance.  Repentance means being sorry enough to quit.  We talk about changing our hearts, but it’s our minds that control what we do.  Change your mind, your heart follows.  The reverse isn’t always true.

But it isn’t enough to talk about change, to preach about change, to write about change.  Change is something we do.  Alan Lyne prayed, “Help us, Lord, not just to speak the Good News, but to be the Good News.”  We may have heard the statement, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”  Unless we change, and make that change visible to those around us, we can’t expect the world around us to be any different than it is right now.  If the world around us doesn’t change, we can’t expect changes to happen in the larger world outside our sphere of influence. 

            Improvements happen a little bit at a time.  If I change, I have the opportunity to help make changes in those around me.  If they change, they have the opportunity to help make changes in those around them.  After a while, change begins to spread like ripples on a pond. 

            And it all begins when we discern the will of God and renew our minds.