Changing the World Disturbs Me

This past April I attended the Q conference with a few hundred church-leading hipsters in New York City. One of the 18-minute presenters was culture-thinker/author Andy Crouch. He opened with a little research he had assembled about books written on the subject of changing the world.

In the first seven years of this century (2000-2007), there were 154 books published containing some iteration of the words “change the world.” Crouch estimates that by 2010 there will be 220 titles. In comparison, only 140 books were published over the entire 100 years leading up to the year 2000. The allure of changing the world is obviously on the rise.

I can relate. I was 12 years old in the kitchen doing dishes when a dinner guest asked what my future looked like. “I want to change the world!” was my enthusiastic response, and has been for as long as I can remember.

Lately, I’m beginning to think that this inclination for world changing is not only unhealthy, it’s also counter-productive. Perhaps the idea of "changing the world" has derailed a generation from actually accomplishing it. There’s a reason for this, and I think it has to do with our infatuation with knowing and being known. Consider the following progression:

First, Everybody Knew Everybody
For thousands of years, communities were made up of interdependent individuals that knew everybody within their vicinity. Lacking long distance communication and the ability to travel far, you didn’t know anybody else except the people in front of you. Everybody knew everybody.

Then, Everybody Knew Somebody
As travel and communication increased, we moved away from everybody knowing everybody to everybody knowing somebody. As cities increased in population and as people spread out, it wasn’t possible to know everybody in your world because your world was getting bigger. As long as we knew somebody, life would still be livable.

Next, Somebody Wanted to Be Known by Everybody
Enter the dawn of pervasive marketing and celebrity, especially post-1800. P.T. Barnum immediately comes to mind as a master of publicity. Revival preachers were also good at positioning themselves publicly so that people wanted want they had. It was no longer possible to know everybody, and knowing somebody was a given. It was now time for everybody to know me. The more people knew me, the more I would be associated with wealth, influence and fame. Yes world, you need to know me.

Now, Everybody Wants to Be Known by Everybody
With the immediate and permeative nature of communication, we’re now living in a period where everybody in the world wants to be known by everybody in the world. The Facebook population alone is as large as the fifth most populated country on earth. Facebook’s entire premise is to be known by everybody. Why else would people spend so much time updating, uploading and upchucking everything about themselves? Yes folks, we want everybody to know us. We’ve come full circle because this is how it started. Everybody knew everybody. Only this time our world is in the billions, not the barrios.

In our pursuit of world-changing significance, how many times have we, like the apostle Paul, reflected or rested on our own credentials? Paul thought he had more reasons than anybody to think his Facebook profile was the best. “Circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless” (Philippians 3:5).

I was on the phone with a young and fairly well-known author a few weeks ago. We were both lamenting how we long to make significant impact on our generation and the world. After several minutes of mutual misery, one of us suggested that we just sell it all and become missionaries in Africa with our families. Perhaps our search for significance would be dampened because our desire to be known would be isolated.

After rattling off his lofty laurels, Paul gets to his real point. “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things” (Philippians 3:7-8). Paul goes even further to say that he considers his credentials—what he’s known for—to be rubbish, in order that he may gain Christ and know Christ.

Once I get past my issues of world-changing notoriety, I will see that life is really about knowing God and knowing the people in front of me. I think of Jesus and his three years of local ministry with a dozen friends. Martin Luther King, Jr. and a band of dream-believers. We know of these people not because they desired to be known or to even change the world. We know of them because they were intent on holding the hands and hearts of the people in front of them.

In the words of Sir Francis Drake from 1577:

Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves,
When our dreams have come true
Because we have dreamed too little,
When we arrived safely
Because we sailed too close to the shore.

Disturb us, Lord, when
With the abundance of things we possess
We have lost our thirst
For the waters of life;
Having fallen in love with life,
We have ceased to dream of eternity
And in our efforts to build a new earth,
We have allowed our vision
Of the new Heaven to dim.

Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly,
To venture on wider seas
Where storms will show your mastery;
Where losing sight of land,
We shall find the stars.
We ask You to push back
The horizons of our hopes;
And to push into the future
In strength, courage, hope, and love.

Disturb me, Lord. Not for my fame, gain or world-change, but for the purpose of knowing you and pursuing the people right in front of me.

2 Comments »

1. Thank you, Brad. Extremely insightful and timely article for me. I think most of us like the “idea” of changing the world but few actually do because it takes too much work. Too much hard, messy and uncomfortable work.

   I don’t know about you but I’d much rather dream about changing the world than change my little girl’s diapers. I’d rather build “virtual” relationships than knock on my next door neighbor’s door and begin pouring into his life. I’d rather contemplate about ending poverty than forfeit my $4/day coffee habit to sponsor another child or ten.

   And since it’s too much work to change the world…hey, maybe I’ll just aim for notoriety.

   Disturbed in MD but perhaps not disturbed enough…

   Comment by Dave © - Aug 08, 2008 @ 09:45 PM

2. Brad,

   In the fall of 2006 I first made the statement “I am going to change the world for God” not out of a personal desire to do so.  I had a feeling.  I heard a calling.  I sensed a greater purpose for my life.

   In fact I don’t really want to do all the work it is going to take or live the the demands and pressure this “project” will bring.

   I appreciate your thoughts especially the comments from Sir Francis Drake.  I stole that section and added it to my blog as a reminder of seeking God’s will and purpose in my life, not being content.  I want to be disturbed to do more for His Kingdom.

   Thanks for sharing!

   Comment by danamj79 - Sep 06, 2008 @ 01:53 PM

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