The Power to Change the World

I was scanning the channels this morning since I’m taking another sick day today and Leah wasn’t here. Apparently, it was a slow hour and there wasn’t much to be found that wasn’t animated or preschooler-oriented; I landed on A&E and a show about a certain illusionist and his tricks. Those shows always spook me. There are just some things that people shouldn’t be able to do, and my analytical mind can’t help trying to figure out how someone can. It’s torture on a number of levels.

I did watch for a few minutes this morning, though, and saw him perform one of his eerie tricks. He made his “pet” scorpion disappear from his hand and reappear in the mouth of one of his spectators. As she spit and spat on the sidewalk, trying to erase what had just happened from her mind and her mouth, the other onlookers marveled at what they had just seen. One woman, in her awe, went so far as to say that the experience had changed her life – that she would never be the same after having seen what she saw. I was speechless.

That woman was looking for meaning – whether she knew it or not – and was so desperate to have her life changed that she found it in a 10-minute streetside magic show.

I might be reading too much into this (I think I do that sometimes), but when I saw that, I thought, “How amazingly sad.” There is meaning and truth and life-changing power pursuing that woman – and each of us – right now, every day of our lives. Because she was not aware of it, though, she looked past it and allowed herself to be swept up in something very much of this world.

Yes, I’m sure the trick was amazing to witness firsthand, and yes, I’m sure that she was probably exaggerating when she said that the experience had changed her life. I do not think, though, that she was grounded in Truth (with a capital ‘T’) and Love (with a capital ‘L’). If she had been, she wouldn’t have made such a bold statement, because nothing could overpower the change that He (with a capital ‘H’) can bring to a life.

And us? What role do we play in this? We share the change that has happened to us. We talk about it. We share it with people, so that their hearts, which are desperately searching, will find the One Thing that can bring about the change they’re longing for.

Anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We're Christ's representatives. (2 Corinthians 5:17-19 MSG)