11 Jun How Can I Change The World?

What does it mean to truly change the world? As the director of our campus ministry, Every Nation Campus (ENC) at UT, I tell people all the time that we believe that if you change the campus, you can change the world. Essentially, we believe that reaching college students with the Gospel will change the world, as they will infiltrate every field and part of the world as they are sent out. As a longhorn, I was also told that at the University of Texas, we believe that “What starts here changes the world.” But what does that really mean? And how can we do it?

In the past couple of months, like many of you, I have contemplated and thought a lot more about my life, what I believe to be true, and why I believe the things I believe. Maybe you, too, have turned into a modern-day Aristotle since you’ve been stuck in the house all this time. It was in this process that one day I thought, “How could I, Bria Lacour, possibly change the world…? Am I changing the world? How do you even change the world?”

These questions came even before the current battle against injustice flooded the media and my world, as a young black woman. I’ll be candid: some days, everything I do as a missionary/woman of God seems like a drop in the bucket of all the happenings in my world, our city, our state, our nation and our world. It’s really easy to believe that I can make no true mark or change in the world when I look at things this way. My own battle with hopelessness can lead me to think “what’s the point of it all….?”

So, why do we think we can change the world? How can we possibly do it?

Firstly, recognize that our God is a God who chose to create us for a purpose. What do I mean by that? Well, we believe in a God who created everything in existence—a God who created us in His image, given free will and purposed to have authority over the animals and entrusted with cultivating the Earth. A God who saw us as the most good of all His creation. A God who created us for work. We know this because it is written: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Gen 1:27-28).

Secondly, recognize that our God is a God who intervenes. A God who sought us out when we strayed from His original design (see: Genesis 3) and ran from Him, even though He gave us everything we needed and more. A God who saw every little thing that was going wrong in our world from that point on—He saw every person for who they were, good and bad, and decided that we were worth saving from ourselves. A God who decided, there’s only one way: coming down myself, becoming a man in Jesus Christ to fulfill the law, to pay the price for our sins to reconcile us back to God through his death and to inaugurate God’s kingdom. A God who will ultimately restore creation back unto its original design. A God who has mandated us to reflect His image and tell all the world the Good News of salvation and entrusted us with the ministry of reconciliation.

Maybe you get what I’m trying to say to you by now, but maybe it’s still a little hard to see. Let me put it simply: The world can be changed, will be changed and God is using us to do it.

But, why would God choose me to do it…? Does anything I do really matter, if God’s mission is to restore the world, anyway? Why do I have a part to play?

Jesus said to His disciples: “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20) AND “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.” (John 14:12)

God not only invited us to help Him change the world (wow, what an honor!) but said when we do so, we will do GREATER works than He. Even though God doesn’t need us to do anything in order His will to be done, Jesus says that it’s even better for Him to leave and for us to stay and do His will. You can read more about all that Jesus did and what we should do now, in response, in the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John).

So, let’s circle back to the beginning: What does it really mean to change the world? And how can we do it?

If you are a policy maker, make policies that fulfill God’s mission and create just systems. If you are a cashier, deal with customers with care. If you are a lawyer, advocate and give a voice to the voiceless. If you are a teacher, teach with love, kindness and patience. If you are a student, hold fast to the calling of God on your life and pursue what He’s calling you to. If you are a doctor, practice medicine with love to bring about physical healing in people’s lives. If you are a mental health professional, bring about the normalization and foster healing of the mental battles we face. If you are a stay-at-home parent, raise your children to honor God and fulfill His purpose for their lives. The list goes on. God has chosen us to be in every area for a purpose.

You can and are called to change the world, even in the, seemingly, small things. Do everything you do knowing that God has chosen you to be a part of changing the world with Him.

Bria Lacour