CHANGE THE WORLD

027 – NOVEMBER 2005

CHANGE THE WORLD

Proverbs 13:12 “Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but, longing fulfilled is a tree of life.”

Just the other day, while in Boston, I entered the elevator and joined this noticeably prosperous and wise businessman. He was reading the newspaper and as we approached the end of the ride, he looked up, with an empty and hopeless expression, and said “The world is in an awful mess!”
I replied “There is something that I learned a long time ago – “You can’t change the world, but you can change the world for someone.”
He looked at me, very surprised, and he responded “That was really good!”

Ephesians 5:15-16 “Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise,
Making the most of your time because the days are evil.”

It’s November 2005. And all of the newspaper headlines contain the accounts of “coward (some call them terrorist) attacks” on nations all over the worlds. Muslim zealots are killing people in America, Spain, India, Iraq, Russia, Indonesia, Great Britain, France, and on and on. I can’t understand this?
This is an evil that won’t fight soldier to soldier but rather creeps into populated arenas, drops a pipe bomb and kills innocent men, women, children and babies. These victims were innocent people who were breathing. They were laughing and planning and working and playing and … alive. And, in the matter of one disastrous second, their lives are gone. Family and loved ones are left behind to weep and mourn and grieve and wonder … “Why did this have to happen?”
I certainly don’t understand these things. These actions are so horrifying and outrageous to me and I am sure that these are the thoughts that this business man was grieving over when he correctly observed that world was in an awful mess.

How are you supposed to respond to all of this? What can you do?

A little boy walked on the seashore and began to toss beached starfish back into the ocean. An older man approached the boy and asked ”What are you doing?”
The boy replied “If these starfish do not get back into the ocean, they will dry up and die.”
The man scoffed to the boy “Why, son, look at the thousands and thousands upon thousands of starfish that are on this beach. It’s hopeless! What difference will it make?”
The boy picked up a starfish and, as he tossed it into the ocean, he said to the man ”It’ll make a difference for this one!”

So, be ready to share your hope
1 Peter 3:15 “But sanctify the Lord in your hearts; and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you …”
Don’t be overwhelmed! Become motivated! As you think about the headlines of the world, become motivated to help someone or anyone, because …
“You may not be able to change the world but you can change the world for someone.”