I was recently a part of a conversation about a gross person in our world, the tragedies that happened, and how little we can do about it. In a world where children are murdered and sin is celebrated, when teenage girls are exposed to sexual abuse and the police are so busy with worse things that they can’t even take the time or the officers to take a report, what kind of world do we live in and how on earth am I supposed to reach it?
I feel helpless. Out of touch. Like my small message and my small life do not equal the world I am called reach.
But now I realize that I am not called to reach the world. We are.
I am not asked to call out every sin, to stop every wave of indifference to that sin, to change every heart, or to reach every life. I am called to do this, to say this, to be this. I am called to reach my little pie slice of this world.
But here’s the thing. You, a very different person in a very different place and with very different gifts, are called to reach a very different pie slice of this world. Called to say other things, reach other people, make another difference. I will never change the world. The good news is Jesus already died to do that. The world is changing, getting ready for its Savior whether it realizes it or not, and the closer we come to our annihilation, the closer we come to utter salvation. The worse it gets, the more acute our need, and while this world proclaims its ears closed to the gospel, never has it been more ready for it.
There’s a kid song. It goes like this: “if you tell two people and I tell two people then four more people will know.” So I will reach my little pie slice, and you reach yours, and we will both leave to the Holy Spirit of God the power to open closed eyes and stick in distracted ears. We will leave to Him the world. After all, he is the one who died to save it.
2-10-19