No, Really.

4 Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. –2 Corinthians 3:4-6

I don’t share the contemporary infatuation with self-help.

To me, it has always seemed…you know…self-helpy.  It seems to me like if it were as simple as people helping themselves with a few positive, non-sensical mantras, and it actually worked, someone would have thought of it a long time ago, and now no one would do anything else.  But there is a neverending stream of self-help nonsense, essentially regurgitating the same tired things over and over in new language or with a new spin.  But it’s the same old self-help.  One of the staples of self-help is the statement of self-affirmation, where you speak out loud what you want to affirm in your world in the belief that the act of vocalizing it will help to actualize that reality–that the act of speaking it helps make  it real.

Sadly, this brand of self-belief (and I think it might be safe in at least some of the cases to call it self-aggrandizement if not outright idolatry), has also infiltrated the Church.  God’s people have, rather than relying on God’s power in them, resorted to themselves for their help.  Modern prosperity preachers tap into this self-worship, using the same old self-help language to try and convince people that God is a blank check who will give them whatever they have the courage to speak out loud.  Of course, any God who responded in such a way would cease to be God–they would be reduced to the genie from the story of Aladdin in 1001 Nights.

With that background firmly in place, it might make what I’m about to say somewhat unexpected.

You can change the world.

No, really.  You can.  Well, not on your own, you can’t.  But God wants to use you to change your world.

The ending of my seminary experience has led me to the “what does it all mean” place.  I’ve been pondering what I believe about my calling and why I’m choosing this line of work and why I care about all this so much.  And here is the bottom line:  the reason this matters to me is because I believe with everything that is in me that God wants to work in you and through you to change your world, and that you will, if you continue to follow after him.  I believe on a level that passes certainty that God has a plan for your life, and that it involves you bringing the Kingdom to your friends and family.  To your job.  To the check-out lady at the grocery store that you see twice a week.  To the barista at your favorite coffee shop.  To…you get the idea.

Your life is critically important to the future of the world.   There is only one of you.  You are the only person who has the giftings and talents you have.  You are the only person who knows the people you know.  You are the only person who gets to live the years allotted to you.  If you don’t work to change your world, who will?

I know what you’re thinking.  He’s turned to the dark side, and he’s spouting the same self-help nonsense he just said he hated.

But here’s the key:  this world changing isn’t going to happen because of how great you are.  It is going to happen because of how great our God is.  You can be a conduit for the God of the universe to impact people in your life.  Today.  You can live in such a way that your life makes a dent in an unbelieving world.  You can live a life filled with the excitement and electricity of every moment being charged with eternal meaning.

In the passage surrounding the section I included at the top of this entry from 2 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul is talking about his ministry among the Corinthian believers.  He is reminding them that he is the one who was there to share the message of the Gospel with them when they came to faith.  He needs no introduction, no resume–they are his resume, because they heard the message first from him.  They are his credentials.  But almost as quickly as he makes this statement, he lets them know that he is fully aware of where the power in his ministry comes from:  God, as he makes clear in verses 4-6 (above).  After discussing the wonder of this ministry, which takes dead people and makes them alive, Paul delivers one of the most vivid illustrations in the Bible.  He compares the Corinthian believers to Moses after he saw God (from Exodus 34) and the people asked him to wear a veil over his face so that he didn’t blind them.  (Stop and think about that for a second!  His face was glowing because he was in God’s presence!  Wild stuff, kids.)   Paul tells the Corinthians that they don’t have to cover it up like Moses–that they can be bold, and they can help raise the veil off the hearts and minds of those who do not understand Christ.  They can change their world for the Kingdom, through the power of the Holy Spirit.

5 For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. –2 Corinthians 4:5-6

In 2 Corinthians 4, Paul goes on to say that this light can shine even through common, broken vessels just like common clay jars can carry important things, and that this carrying of valuable things in common containers adds to God’s glory–no one will confuse the container for being the main event!

Today, as you think about your life, are you truly living like God wants to change your world through you?  Do you really believe that God can use you to bring Kingdom change in you and the people around you?  Too many people live their lives in a fog, unable to believe that they could be someone God wants to use.  Don’t be one of those people.  Choose to believe that God is at work, and at work in your life.  Choose to believe that God has made appointments today that will impact eternity that only you can possibly keep.  And then believe that God will empower you to live that life as you depend on him to do the heavy lifting.

In case of life, live like you can change the world in and through Christ.  Because you can.  No, really.

7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. 8 We areafflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; 9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; 10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. 11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. 12 So death is at work in us, but life in you.

13 Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, 14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. 15 For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.

16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17 Forthis light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. —2 Corinthians 4:7-18