One of my favorite stories: the man who set out to change the world. As he grew older and found the world slow to change, he thought he'd try to change his country. That task also proved to be too daunting, so he attempted to change his community. In his old age, he settled for just changing his family. When he came to the end of his life, he realized that if he had just begun with himself, he could have then changed his family, who would have changed their community, in turn changing the country, and he would have changed the world.
In our dreams and aspirations, do we strive for the glorious and noble goal of being world changers? Then first we must become the people that a great world needs. In order to bring God to the vast human race through revival, we must have him for ourselves. We must each be revived. To bring our ailing country to the Great Physician, we must first be healed by Him. We must be the change we want to see in the world (Ghandi).
You cannot give that which you do not have. You cannot give love and grace and hope to a desperate world when your own supply is lacking. You cannot give Jesus to others when you have so little of Him. You must have Him in a real, intimate, deepening way. You must go to Him to be filled, that you may overflow to others. Go to Him to fill your cup and everywhere you go, it will spill over and touch others. This is how you change a world. First, change you.
