Psalm 24:1 “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.”
Sometimes I’m so overwhelmed by the needs I see around me or those I see on TV from around the world that I just want to blot them all out by switching channels and watching a football match or a film. I’m tempted to retreat, batten down the hatches and just seek to meet my own needs and those of my family. What can I really do about it anyway? But I simply have to resist that defeatist mindset. Abraham Kuyper wrote a century ago: “There is not one square inch in all of God’s creation over which Jesus does not cry out, ‘Mine!’” We are called to be world citizens, and have been given a world mandate.
The insular individual, on the other hand, has given way to cynicism. Jim Wallis explains why: “Cynicism does protect you in many ways. It protects you from seeming foolish to believe that things could and will change. It protects you from disappointment. It protects you from insecurity because now you are free to pursue your own security instead of sacrificing it for a social engagement that won’t work anyway. Ultimately, cynicism protects you from commitment. If things are not really going to change, why try so hard to make a difference? Why take the risks, make the sacrifices, open yourself to the vulnerabilities? And if you have middle-class economic security (as many cynics do), things don’t have to change for you to remain secure. That is not intended to sound harsh, just realistic. Cynics are finally free just to look after themselves.”
What will you choose? Every inch you walk today is God’s, every person you meet, those you see on TV, all belong to him. So pick a fight – lots of issues need addressing in the realms of injustice, environment, education, politics, in our community, our nation, or the world.
Lord, use me as part of your movement to change the world today. Amen!
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