Changing the world begins with changing ourselves. We need to change our minds about those who may have hurt us, change our hearts, and maybe even change our lifestyles. Just as Nehemiah turned straight to prayer and holiness as the cure for his nation’s state of collapse, we can impact our world today if we work on changing ourselves first.
Blaming others for our failures is not a helpful way to live. When we blame others for the difficulty in our lives, we put the burden of change on other people, and we lose control of our management of the situation. If we focus on how we can improve ourselves, we gain control over the situation through the one thing we can control: ourselves. We have no excuse for not working together.
In their book Change Your World: How Anyone, Anywhere Can Make a Difference, John Maxwell and Rob Hoskins say this:
Looking at our world, it’s pretty easy to see that things could change for the better. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have better schools? Better neighborhood? More positive workplace? Would you like to have a more connected family? Communities where people get along and work together for everyone’s good? Wouldn’t the world be better if people were more respectful, unified, and positive?
This book can help us impact people’s lives today and bring about the lasting change our world needs. This book is a beautiful resource on leadership. Using its principles, we—all of us—can help to change the world, one person at a time. Maxwell and Hoskins talk about the “transformation table” approach. This approach gathers small groups around a table and encourages people to talk about good values and apply them to their everyday lives.
Prayer of Confession:
In our hearts always, Father, we need your intervention in our lives as we submit one another in love. Help us have an attitude of grace and forgiveness in carrying one another’s burdens and sharing our worries. Help us to always take our worries to you and walk in the strength you give us to improve our lives, our neighbors’ lives, and our nation.