Normal People Don't Change the World

I am obsessed with a terrible fear. It is greater than any fear of torture, burning, drowning, or being kidnapped. It looms larger than my natural fear of death. Fears of falling, of darkness, and of hunger are dwarfed in comparison to it. Beside it, any other fears that I possess are nothing.

I am afraid of being normal.

I am afraid that I will wake up one day and be just like everyone else. I am afraid that I will care about the things that normal people care about. I am afraid that I will live my life like billions of others on this planet do.

I am afraid that, like countless others, I will let life happen to me. I will sink below the waves of life as they crash past me, and eventually, in their wake, I will bounce up again. I will go along bobbing up and down in the sea of time and space, until one day a mighty wave will sweep me under, and I will never pop back up. I will sink to the bottom, disintegrate, and dissolve into the sand at the bottom of the ocean of dreams.

I do not want to be normal. I want to attack life with zest before it attacks me. I want time to be my servant, never my master. I want to run life as though it were a race, pushing back the obstacles and ultimately breaking the tape at the finish line to the cheers of an entire stadium. I want to meet the Master at the end, and hear His commendations on a race well run.

I am afraid of being normal because I've seen what happens to normal people. Normal people live normal lives, and have normal problems. When they die, they'll have the normal for all of eternity. I don't want that.

I want to have a different life. I want to fight bigger problems, and win. Because I have bigger battles, my victories will be sweeter. My joys will be more acute. Yes, my losses will be more tragic, but I will buckle up and try again.

Normal people care about normal things. They care about what they will eat, how they will pay the mortgage, what they will wear, when they can retire, how they can manage to get along with their families. They care mostly about keeping their heads above water.

I want God to plant my feet on higher ground. By His grace, I want to break away from the shallowness of a trite existence.

I don't want to care so much about normal things. I want to care about matters of eternal significance, life versus death and good versus evil. I want to care about things that are deeper than the temporal. Normal people don't change the world, but that's what I must do. It needs changing. Someone must get the ball rolling.

I feel guilty about things that don't even bother most people. I feel guilty because more than 3,000 innocent children are murdered every day in my country. I haven't killed any. I wasn't even alive on January 22, 1973. But still, I feel responsible. The shame is acute. I want to do something about it.

In spite of all this, I am afraid that I will become normal. I am afraid that I will wake up one morning and discover that my life is halfway over and I am just like everyone else I know. This has happened to others. It could happen to me, too.

It must never happen. By God's grace, it never will. I serve a God who is anything but 'normal', and I have no doubt that His plans for my life are not normal in the least.

Escaping the Comfort Zone

"There are many places to go in the world, but you will never get there by sitting in your easy chair."

So read a sign that I saw in the airport a few days ago. It's a very simple thought, yet one that relates in profound ways to many other areas of life. It might be re-phrased to read, "There are many things to do for God in life, but you will never be able to do them from your comfort zone."

What is a comfort zone? Webster's defines it as "An environment or situation in which a person feels secure or at ease; also figuratively, an established lifestyle in which a person feels comfortable as long as there is no drastic change"

As long as there is no drastic change. Is that how you feel on occasion? Do you sometimes dread what the future holds? Do you find yourself wishing that you could hold back the sands of time? Do you ever cringe at the thought of the uncomfortable things that God may be calling you to do?

I know I do. No matter how great our zest for life and the future, we often have the desire to keep our lifestyles within the circumference of whatever we feel most comfortable with. Our comfort zone is a place where we can enjoy life without taking too many risks, where we can bask in the 'good life' without taking up the tab. Safe in our comfort zone, we are isolated from ridicule and criticism. We can love and be loved without fear of rejection. We have few responsibilities to bother us.

Are these your dreams? Do you envision a convenient lifestyle? A posh career, a doting family? The good life ? Do you dream of being loved, without the responsibility of loving and sacrificing youself in return?

The good life sounds wonderful, but it cannot be because it is self-centered. It is 'good' because it is comfortable, and comfortable because it is not difficult or challenging. God calls us to live a greater life, a life of duty and committment. He calls us to higher ground. We are asked to surrender ourselves, to die daily (1 Cor 15:31). We must sacrifice ourselves for a cause greater than the temporary.

What could be more wonderful? What could be more exciting? We are here on earth to glorify the Almighty, and nothing could be more fulfilling than giving Him all that we have. The opportunity to invest our talents in something that really matters is a glorious prospect!

It does takes courage to break away from the norm of society to pursue a higher standard. Courage, as someone once said, is simply fear in its proper perspective. It is not the absence of fear, but simply the act of harnessing it and utilizing it to accomplish something worthwhile.

Bill Jack of Worldview Academy oftens mentions in his lectures the 'interesting' effect that fear has on people. "What you fear", he asserts, "Is what you will worship." When you allow uncertainty and trepidation to control your actions, you are surrending yourself to those emotions as your master. But once you surrender yourself to God, the true Creator, your fear of other entities is dwarfed by your desire to magnify Him in all that you do.

Have you ever heard of a person who said that they did too much for God? Have you ever heard of someone who, on their death bed, regretted having challenged themselves as much as they did? Someone who wished that they had worked a little less, and not taken so many risks? I never have. Instead, there seems to be a completely different universal regret. Most older people look back on their lives with chagrin, thinking longingly of the many wasted moments spent in careless comfort. They long to turn back the clock and try again. They wish that they had accomplished more, taken more risks for the things that matter. They regret hiding in the shadows when their voice was needed. They regret choosing a less challenging lifestyle because it seemed easier.

We have all wasted time in our comfort zones. As long as we live on earth, however, there is a chance for reform. The opportunity to follow God out of our comfort zone always stands open. He is always ready and willing to lead us to heights we never dreamed of.

So what will you choose? Is the American Dream of ease and prosperity good enough for you? Do you dream of a life lived unchallenged, an existence of temporary comfort and happiness? Or are you willing to join God on the adventure of a lifetime? Are you willing to give Him 100%? God's dream for you will be challenging, time consuming, and life altering. It may wound your ego, it will alter your plans, and it will certainly take you out of your comfort zone. But in the end, when you hear the words, "Well done, good and faithful servant" , it will be worth it all!

First published at www.regenerateourculture.com

Lethargic No Longer

"Apathy is the glove into which evil slips its hand."

Mr. Williams grabbed another potato chip and leaned back in his lounge chair. "I heard that the US has been buying guillotines," he quipped. "Just goes to prove that this government is hopeless. And Christians still think that they can make a difference by voting!"

Mr. Barnes, sitting on another couch, smiled and took a carrot from a tray on the coffee table. It was a quiet Saturday afternoon, and the discussion had turned to politics. "The tribulation is bound to start any time", he agreed, "but instead of getting out of the world, Christians are trying to get back in and change everything! Such apostasy. This whole abortion thing is going to get America God's judgement, and we've got to get ourselves far removed. Say, did you hear about the concentration camps that Bush is building? Some friends of ours were out driving and actually saw one........."

I rolled my eyes and groaned inwardly, tired of complaining and conspiracy theories. Taking my plate, I hurried to the kitchen, passing my sister in the hall. She giggled at the look on my face, knowing that I would be sure to vent my frustrations in a long speech later that day.

The time came soon enough. After arriving home from the visit, I followed my sister to her room and plopped down on the bed. "I can't believe it!" I exclaimed. "They are forever complaining about everything, and they never do anything! If they aren't going to help, they don't have a right to whine about politics. What do they expect, when government is made up of fallible human beings? After all, 'The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing!' "

My sister looked at me and laughed, in the provoking way that little sisters do. "So what are you going to do?"

What am I going to do? I'm not an apathetic person, but I don't always want to be proactive about everything. I complain, too, especially about indifferent people who complain. The temptation to hold one's self aloof and grumble at everyone else can be very strong.

Yet I am disgusted with apathy. I hate the apathy that I see in the people around me, but I hate it even more in myself. I feel nauseated at the part of me that wants to take the easy route, the part that prefers a diplomatic solution when such a thing is not possible. As I have been reading the Biblical prophets lately, I have noticed a characteristic of God that eluded me before. He is obsessed with justice. He is passionately opposed to evil, and He uses the strongest of language to express that revulsion. As emissaries of God, can we do any less? How can we calmly discuss such modern atrocities as abortion and genocide without feeling a moral compulsion to go out and do something?

I used to wonder why every election was always said to be so pivotal. Every two years, one was liable to get the impression that the world was going to go down the drain unless so-and-so was elected. Every two years, politicians portrayed America as being on the brink of disaster, but then, until the next election, everything was pretty much fine. Suddenly, though, it was election time again, and this was our country's most crucial election year!

I think I understand now. Politicians, of course, are not above a bit of exaggeration, but as Ronald Reagan said, "Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on to them to do the same." We often tend to sit back and admire the frontiers that the previous generation has conquered for us, while forgetting that there are those in every generation who would like nothing more than to reclaim those frontiers for the other side. We are in a never-ending battle, and the option of passiveness must never be open.

It has been said that getting an idea should be like sitting on a pin; it should make you get up and do something. Similarly, our beliefs propel us to action. As Christians, we are not called to pontificate; we are called to act. "...I will show you my faith by my works." James 2:18b

James makes another point in the same chapter that is well worth consideration. "You believe that God is one" he says; "You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder." It's as though he was saying to us today, "You believe in God? That's nice. Even Satan does that. Now try doing something about it!"

Perhaps Isaac Watts was thinking along the same lines when he penned his famous hymn, "Am I a Soldier of the Cross?"

"Am I a soldier of the cross,

A follower of the Lamb,

And shall I fear to own His cause,

Or blush to speak His Name?

Must I be carried to the skies

On flowery beds of ease,

While others fought to win the prize,

And sailed through bloody seas?

Are there no foes for me to face?

Must I not stem the flood?

Is this vile world a friend to grace,

To help me on to God?

Sure I must fight if I would reign;

Increase my courage, Lord.

I’ll bear the toil, endure the pain,

Supported by Thy Word......."

"Why do I tend to think myself immune from difficulties?" he asks. "Why do I see myself as detached from the spiritual war that other Christians fight? What gives me the right to live in luxury while others give their lives for the sake of the gospel?"

A few weeks ago, I was in Israel, and while there, we visited Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial museum. As I was touring the exhibits, meditating soberly on the apathy displayed by European Christians in those dark days, my eyes were drawn to a display on Hitler's extermination camps for mentally ill persons. I read on half-heartedly, until I noticed suddenly that the camps in one particular area had been shut down permanently. Hitler?? Shut down an entire project? Why? I read eagerly on, then stepped back in surprise when the answer was revealed. Because the churches protested!

Perhaps I should have breathed a sigh of relief. The German Christians weren't so apathetic after all!

But I was horrified. The churches protested? The churches protested, and Hitler shut down the entire program as a result? Through my tears, I saw a pile of children's shoes nearby, their owners exterminated in the Holocaust. I saw the emaciated bodies in the photographs, and in my imagination, I heard the screams of the 6,000,000 innocents who perished. "Why didn't they protest this?? If they were brave enough to challenge Hitler, why did they stop with the victims who were mentally ill? What were they thinking? Could their combined outcry have possibly moved Hitler to end other programs as well?Why did they stop with that??"

In the same way, we face evil today in the 21st century, evil that we must confront. Future generations will look back at us, just as we look back at the Christians during WW II. Youth Evangelist Ron Luce addressed this issue at the Values Voters Summit in September. He reminded his listeners that when people look back at our generation, they will ask "Where were the Christians?" We must be the ones in our generation, he said, who will take the initiative and say "No! Enough of this! The train will not run off the tracks on my watch!" For once the train is off the tracks, it will be off for a long time.

We in the 21st century must not let that happen. We must determine that we will not leave society untouched without making a mark for righteousness. We must not go to our graves without making an impact for Christ, in every area of society. Otherwise, what will we have to say for ourselves, when we stand before the judgement seat of Christ?

It has been said that there are 3 kinds of people in this world: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who have no idea what is happening. Unfortunately, there are far too many of these last two groups, while those in the former are all too rare.

But I believe, therefore I do. I think, and then I act. I find it impossible to stand on the sidelines while evil reigns unhindered in the arena, to look the other way when it is in my power to do something about the problem. Society has enough lethargic members, and I refuse to join their number. No one will ever say that I stood by and did nothing. I may be accused of many things, but never of apathy. I will use my influence for good in every sector of society. Winning or losing, I will stand for the right, regardless of the cost. Friends, this is a time for action!

First published at www.regenerateourculture.com