Inspiration to Change the World

“That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.”

-2 Corinthians 5:19-20 (ESV)

Imagine I have a ball. This ball can do anything and everything that any normal ball could do. It can bounce, be squeezed, be propelled through the air by the forceful pitch of my hand, just about anything except be caught (bear with me on this). Now imagine I throw this extraordinary ball, right at you! What would your first instinct be? Probably, to move, right? Only if you believed the ball to be headed straight for you would you move. If you had any inclination that the ball wasn’t headed for you, you wouldn’t move.

The point of this example is that you have to believe the ball is going to hit you in order to move. It takes belief for us to move! True belief causes you to move, whether that means to avoid something like a ball, or to act upon that belief. For instance, I could use my belief in God. I truly believe God has reconciled me to Himself so therefore, I should live a holy life pleasing to Him. Living a life pleasing to Him is a direct result of my true belief in Him. My belief in Him inspires that movement.

Now I use the word inspire here for a reason. In the last two posts I have discussed what is needed to change the world for His glory. Yet I skipped over one important aspect, which really should have been covered first. In order to change the world, you have to be inspired to move in that direction.

Now the main point I want to drive home in this post is this: Belief in God through the Gospel should inspire us to change the world. KNOW GOD, CHANGE THE WORLD.

How do we know that His vision for the world has transferred upon us? Just take the Great Commission for example, or even the verse above. It says that God was reconciling the world to Himself through Christ. Then it says, therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. By being an ambassador for Christ, we partake in the same work of striving to reconcile the world.

But honestly, we wouldn’t even know the message of reconciliation without knowing Christ and the Gospel, or the story of His death and resurrection for our sake. It is because we believe the Gospel that we are reconciled to God and know Him.

But does that belief inspire movement? Are we inspired to change the world through our belief in the Gospel?

Before you challenge yourself with this question, I want you to more clearly understand the picture of reconciliation in the Gospel. Now the Gospel is reflected in many parts of the Bible, but to discuss this, I am going to dive into the story of Hosea. Now Hosea was an Old Testament prophet who married an adulterous woman named Gomer. Now Gomer left  him, but Hosea, as a picture of God’s faithful and redeeming love, seeks out Gomer and reconciles her to himself. This is a picture of the Gospel. That through Christ, God sought us out and reconciled those who believe in Christ to Himself.

There are two verses in Hosea that clearly defines this reconciliation. Hosea 2:19-20 says,

“And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.”

Notice how Christ’s action on the cross clearly integrates these aspects in the message of the Gospel. Righteousness was displayed, justice was served, love was shown, and mercy was given, all through the faithful act of Christ giving His life for us on the cross. And it is because of that, that we know God, as the verse says.

But reconciliation has to happen in order to know God. That is what the story of Hosea portrays. Hosea sought reconciliation in order to know God.

And knowing God inspires movement. He is so big, so powerful, so mighty, that we are to be forever propelled by the collision of our life with Him.

God desires for us to know Him, in order that we might be moved by Him. And that movement involves being an ambassador for Christ, to spread the message of reconciliation. But as the verse at the beginning displays, you cannot be an ambassador for Christ without first being reconciled to Him, because knowing Him is what inspires movement. The inspiration to change the world comes through knowing Him.

KNOW GOD, CHANGE THE WORLD.