You were born to change the world!

When we dedicated Isaac back to God, six weeks after he was born, our friend Danielle, who was leading through told us, ‘Whenever God wants to change the world, a child is born.’ Doesn’t that blow you away? Whenever God changes the world, it is through a person. Jesus had to become human, be born as a baby, to have the impact on the world that God designed. When you were born, God planned to change the world through you. God has been preparing good works in advance for you since before the world began. He has plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. You matter. You were born to change the world.

And yet, how many of us forget that, or never realise it? We become small, smaller than is ok for potential world changers. Only you can influence the people around you, only you have that exact mix of relationships, of skills, of passions, of experiences. God has plans for you to impact the world in ways that you don’t dream.

How often do we forget it about other people too? That homeless guy who comes in for a food parcel who’s probably just scrounging because he spends his benefits on drugs, do I remember that he was born to change the world, that God has good plans for his life, but life has got in the way? What about the migrants we read about on the news? Or the annoying woman on the bus, or the driver that cut you up? When we start to remember that these others were born to change the world too, we start to remember their value, to see them how God sees them, they stop being ‘other’ and become human again. We see them with dignity, treat them with respect.

It’s a different way to frame our reality, it frees us from the tyranny of self, whilst also reminding us that our dreams, our visions are not vain ambition, but part of God’s heart to bring heaven on earth.

Here's a secret for you. We are best able to live out those lives of transformation when we are transformed ourselves from the inside out. I was privileged today to sit and listen to someone share with me stories of how God has changed them from the inside out, without them even realising until they looked backwards. All the stuff, the gunk, the rubbish that gets in the way of those great plans and dreams - God has a plan for that too. It's to wash and renew and transform into something beautiful. 

'Here is a consistency to which I bear witness: transformation from the inside out, transformation which changes us always and continually, sharpening, brightening, bringing out the image-of-God-ness in us, revealing the truth of what God intended all along. Wash the lies away with water, sharpen the image with iron, refine and reveal, there is a true human hiding here. The ways of Jesus are always better for us in our bodies, our minds, our souls: discipleship brings true freedom.'  From Sarah Bessey's beautiful blog.

You were born to change the world.