In Your name, we could change the world

"God's kingdom shall never be shaken, be grateful for God is an all consuming fire."-Hebrews 12:28

A story I had to read for my FYS says this:

"Mark Twain told the story of a man who searched his whole life for the world's greatest general. When the man died, he arrived in heaven and walked up to St. Peter and said, "I'm looking for the world's greatest general."

St. Peter replied, "I know. We've been expecting you, and I have good news. If you will look right over there, you will see the world's greatest general."

The older man excitedly looked over and said, "That's not the world's greatest general. That man was a cobbler on Main Street in my home town." St. Peter responded, "But had he been a general, he would have been the greatest general ever."

This story is not meant to demean cobblers at all. The work of a cobbler is meaningful and requires very special talents. But the story does raise some fundamental questions: Did the cobbler know what he had the potential to do? Did he know that he had the talent to be the world's greatest general? Did anyone try to convince him that he could be destined for greatness?

Twain's tale points to a painful truth that's echoed in the words of Oliver Wendell Holmes: "Most people go to their graves with their mu sic still inside them." There are plenty of perfectly good cobblers out there who could have been great generals, given the opportunity or en couragement. Maybe, given the choice, they would still have chosen to be cobblers. But they also could have pursued completely different, per haps historic, careers.

Give this tale some thought when planning your own career. We want the music that is inside you to be heard!"

...What a scary thought!!

My FYS teacher had us read this story for class and the idea of it struck me full force.


What if I go to the grave not living up to who I could be and who God has created me to be?  What if I miss a chance to impact and touch other peoples' lives because I can't muster the courage to follow Jesus fully with my life?


More importantly, why do we underestimate ourselves?


Do we think we're too weak, not smart enough, not influential enough, not faithful enough?


For my english class, we've been assigned something that will call people to action.
This class required us to go out into the community and find a non-profit to donate our time to and through this, gain insight into a relevant issue.  I knew that I wanted to work with younger kids and I ended up choosing the Rock ministries to do tutoring for middle schoolers.


The second part of our assignment was to brainstorm a list of things that the kids at this ministry would need.  In my head, I for some reason underestimated the number of needs.


We ended up brainstorming around 50 different things that the ministry was in need of and it really hit me.


If I went about this assignment the right way and wrote an effective letter to send out into the community, then I could help these kids get the resources they need to improve in school and to make them feel valued.  


Driving home from this meeting, I realized that we really do underestimate ourselves.  
We doubt that the undeniable power of Christ is strong enough to move through our veins and out of our hearts into this world.  


Here is the reality:
This world is crying out for people who have the courage to take a step in the direction of change.  It is crying out for leaders to emerge out of the cloud of fear hanging over our heads.  It is pulling us to give of ourselves as Christ did with an outpouring of love as our lives becoming living sacrifices to God.  He is calling us to walk in love for His name to be known.


Ephesians 5:2 says, "...and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us..."


This life is not about us.  It is FAR from about us.  
It is about Jesus and how we can serve the world more fully in His name.  It is about running and not stopping until people know who God is.  It is laying down your own agenda and seeking God daily to transform your heart to be in likeness to the beautiful Author who created you for a purpose.
Stop restraining your God-given potential because if You let Him, His fire will spread like wildfire into this world and we may begin to see a world the way it was intended to be, reflecting Love himself.


"We stand in Your love, in Your power and all You say we are. Jesus, in Your name we could change the world.."-Matt Redman


God, the only way to live up to who we are called to be is to seek Your beauty.  You are the only thing in this world worth following, the truest of all.  I pray you would push us to expand our bounds and to love abundantly with what we are doing daily for Jesus.  


God, I know through Your grace, we could touch this world beyond measure and show those around us the reason we have been placed here.


We could change the world.  But only if we let Him change us first.