This is a guest post by Marcus Privitt.
I type “change the world” into Google, and I am given over 3.5 billion results. Eric Clapton wrote a song called “Change the world.” TIME magazine has an article sharing “10 ideas that will change the world.” Another writer, Henrik Edberg, shares Gandhi’s “Top 10 Fundamentals” for changing the world.
We’re obsessed with this idea. “Changing the world” sells books, attracts website views, and propels projects.
But according to Andy Crouch’s research in Culture Making, no book before the 20th century was published with the phrase “change the world” in the title. In the last ten years, we have published more books with the phrase in the title than the entire last century.
I’m a product of this modern phenomenon. I buy into the lure. I read books, articles, and subscribe to writers who promise to teach me the secret formula.
But I’m realizing – this isn’t okay.
I’ve noticed three negative implications borne from the “change the world” language. Three things we must recognize and reject in order to redeem a correct posture towards processing change.
1. “Change the world” language can lead to selfish comparison.
Modern technology connects us and opens avenues as never before. I was able to stream an entire Christian conference that took place in Kansas City. I can follow podcasts of speakers speaking around the world.
I am constantly challenged and encouraged. However, I can’t help but compare myself to the speakers, stories, and movements. Silently, a quiet voice whispers to me: “Marcus, why aren’t you participating in something like that?”
More voices answer.
“It’s because you’re lazy.”
“It’s because you fake your passion.”
“It’s because you’re selfish.”
I should be asking challenging questions of myself. But when I consistently allow myself to hear these anti-God (dare I say, anti-Christ) voices, I only slip further into apathy. I lose track of my circumstance and lose confidence in where the Lord has me.
I grow less content as I compare my place to the place of others. But I must reject this.
These challenges only lead to good if they breed motivation.
I am called to be content and confident in the lot God has given me. That my stature does not come from the amount of influence I have over man, but the amount of influence God has over me.
The second I slip into broken comparison, my dreams are squashed entirely.
2. “Change the world” language can lead to ignoring the local community.
The more I meditate on the model of Jesus’ ministry, the more I am puzzled. Why did God choose to become incarnate in the first-century?!
Twitter was not a thing. Facebook didn’t exist. Mass media was a dream.
You’re telling me Jesus changed the world without these things? Are you nuts?
He selected 12 people to follow him. These 12 led to a total of 120 – the number reported at Pentecost, the launching point of the Christian movement.
Jesus didn’t need mass media to change the world. He understood the significance of impacting 12, who later would impact 120, who would later impact the world. Though his circle was small and his influence mocked 2,000 years ago, the man Jesus Christ is still relevant today.
The local community was good enough for Jesus. We must realize big things sit untapped in our community.
Let’s redefine the phrase in light of Jesus. “Changing the world” is not global, but instead inserting culture into the local community around us. That’s it.
And that is big enough.
3. “Change the world” language can trick me to think it’s all about me.
The idealism in me cringes, but I have to say it: I can’t change the world. I cannot create a lasting, sustainable change.
God chose 12 disciples to walk with him. From the moment of man’s creation, God chose to work with humanity to change the world. I cannot fool myself into thinking real change comes from individual effort. Real change comes from a community of love.
There is no lasting sustainable change without the work of God. I cannot create art, write a blog piece, or lovingly impact culture without my Creator God. God is the primary Creator, and it is God who continues to create through his image-bearers.
I want to shed the arrogance spawned from believing I can change the world.
Because I can’t.
It is God who works through me – not I who works through God.
In order to make any impact on those around us, we must remain in a humble posture, offering ourselves as living sacrifices to be used in His mission.
Let’s stop trying to change the world, and instead seek to bring God’s kingdom to our local contexts. We are constructing the New Jerusalem – may we construct from a humble posture.
About the Author:
Marcus Privitt has been writing for five years on faith, life, and other things that are too big for words. He is on staff at Salem Church Plant Highrock North Shore. He is also Co-Founder of Didactic Jam Games for Charity, an organization that raises money by playing video games for an inhumane amount of hours. Marcus is living in the North Shore of Massachusetts and is completing his Master’s Degree.
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