Change Won't Come... Unless...

In a world of billions of people, I know my voice is not the loudest. I know it is not the most distinct. I know my voice is not the most influential. However, that will not keep me from speaking.

Throughout the spring and summer of 2020 we saw MASSIVE destruction throughout the land of the United States of America. Riots. Buildings destroyed. Personal property vandalized. Businesses brought to ruin. Lives destroyed. Families broken apart. Jobs lost. Children abused.

And before I continue, I want to state something: this is NOT a political post. This is NOT about Right or Left. Red or Blue. This post is about YOU and ME. About the souls lost and the destruction WE as a human race have created.

Throughout the world, we see the depravity of man. Children sold into sex slavery. Women forced into prostitution. The poor exploited. The rich who use their wealth for mere gain. We see governments who use their position for evil. Adultery, pornography, drunkenness and substance abuse, mental and physical abuse, hunger and starvation, abandonment, orphans, the voiceless destroyed and treated as garbage, anger and hate, words being used to tear down and throw stones versus using them to build up and restore. The list goes on and on and on. And the longer this list becomes, the more my heart sinks into a state of sadness and despair for the human race. It sinks into a place of, “What can be done?”

When a certain event took place this past spring that shook our nation and caused a ripple effect of emotions, I wrote this post on Change. 

We ALL (all meaning: those who have an ounce of compassion towards others) want to see change. Whether that change is personally or for the greater common good.

However.

And this is a REALLY big however…

It is NEVER going to come through mere human efforts.

I know I probably angered a few of you by that statement, but hear me out.

I am not writing to those who do not believe in God Almighty, the Maker of Heaven and Earth. I am writing to those who profess with their lips that they are Believers in the ONE True God. The God of the Bible and no other text. Those who profess with their lips that Jesus is Lord of All. That He alone is God in flesh.

Yes, this creates a massive canyon for all other world religions that profess a “way.” It creates a separation from those who believe in Christ and those who do not. I know this. I have felt it and live it. Both personally and at large. But I am not writing a dialogue for that audience. This is a dialogue with those who say, “Yes. Jesus is the WAY, the TRUTH, and the LIFE. No one can come to the Father except through Him.”

YOU, my dear friend, were called to be SALT and LIGHT in this hurting world. And I include myself in this “you.”

WE, who profess Christ as Lord and Savior of this world are CALLED to make a change. To BE the change. And the ONLY way to change a broken and hurting world is to change the heart. The ONLY One who can change the heart is Christ alone.

It is time to rise up and LIVE WHAT WE PROFESS AND BELIEVE.

In my post on Changing the Heart I wrote:

“Ending brokenness, racism, hatred, maliciousness, loneliness, hurt, sexual immorality, anger, bitterness, social divides, murder... this list goes on and on, begins with a changed heart for God. THIS is where true change begins. When we love God, we love people and truly see that we are ALL image bearers of the One who created us. But the only way this happens is when we LIVE the Great Commission. It begins when we share WHY and HOW Jesus changed and continues to transform our lives. It starts with us sharing the GOOD NEWS to a massively hurting and broken world. HE came to heal the brokenhearted and restore all things to Himself. If we don’t share that Good NEWS our words are useless.”

I will say it again: If we do not share the Good News, our words, and I am going to add this, faith is useless.

I’m sure I made a few of you angry again.

But hear me out.

If we want to see change in this world, then we MUST begin to tell the world about Jesus. We MUST tell the world why He changed us. How He has bound up the wounds of the broken hearted. How He restores, heals, and takes ashes and makes them beautiful diamonds again.

James, the brother of Jesus said

In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

(James 2:17)

Faith without actions is just a belief.

Beliefs require no action. We can believe in something and do absolutely nothing about that belief and still hold that item as a belief.

Faith does not.

Faith REQUIRES action.

If we want to see change in this world, it begins with the heart. It begins by allowing the Holy Spirit to take hold of our lives, to transform us to be like Jesus from the inside OUT. It begins by God transforming us. It begins by reading the Bible, the Bible that we believe and say is God’s very word, DAILY.

Not every once in a while.

Not when we feel like it.

Not when we feel guilty because we haven’t…

But DAILY.

Change comes when we allow the power of the Holy Spirit to transform our lives for HIS purposes. When we set aside our selfishness, our prideful thinking, and say, “Jesus, strip me of myself. Strip me of MY thinking and replace it with YOURS.”

Then.

And only then.

Will we see change.

Scripture references: The Holy Bible