Do you want a better world? Are you hoping that life is going to get better for you and those you love? Have you heard the call yet? Do you know which part you've been asked to play? Have you realised that the better world you wish for is not going to happen, until you are ready to play your part? I keep coming back to my earliest memories of Sunday School, singing about our need to shine, you in your small corner and I in mine. 

Anyone who is recognised in our culture as having changed things for the better, for humanity, has gone through many challenges. I suggest that the greatest of all of the things they have had to confront is this: Are you all in? There's an amazing verse in the gospel of Luke Chapter 9, where It is said of Jesus "He set his face as a flint to go up to Jerusalem" just as Isaiah 50 had prophesied about the Messiah.

Jesus described in full detail to his disciples in Mark 10 exactly what he knew was going to happen to him in Jerusalem! In fact it wasn't the only time he told them where his story would end but nevertheless he resolutely and determinedly took the path of his destiny knowing the personal cost and here am I talking about this 2,000 years later. People who are all in, keep going, keep on keeping on when most of us give up.

I'm almost sure that your path and calling will not end as cruelly and painfully as that of Jesus, but yet many will shy away from the part they know they are called to play in life for the most innocuous reasons. I can't help the old lady across the road, because she might think as an interfering stranger. I'm shy, please don't ask me to do it. I couldn't do that, it would be too hard. How very different to the heroes of our culture.

And yet, I believe, we are all supposed to be the hero in our own story. I believe in you shining in your small corner, and I in mine, is the only way to make this world a better place. For us all to do what we are capable of doing, nothing more and nothing less. It is my conclusion that the reason the world isn't as we would like it to be us because we do not play our full part. It's a theory that is worth testing, don't you agree?

What is each one of us acted from a place of personal sovereignty? What if we were willing to believe in ourselves and our capability to make changes for the better where we are? With that kind of faith what could happen if we set our faces like a flint to do the things we are capable of, and never withdrew from those tasks until they were completed? What kind of a world would you and I live in then?

All it will take, us all you've got. If we are determined to the point of never giving up, then like Gandhi suggested we will be the change we want to see in the world. This weekend tens of thousands of people have been marching all over the world demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. 76% of the UK electorate want this to happen now.  

How long can the leaders of this country and others deny the people what they want and remain in power? These I believe are the birth pangs of a coming age of peace and security for all human beings, but only if we become resolute and steadfast in our intention to bring such a world about. You in your small corner and I in mine both not shrinking back but forcefully advancing in the direction of the call on our lives.

If you feel inspired by my words, if you are someone who would like to discover (yes it's already there) the power of your own sovereignty that exists inside your heart, the power capable of changing the world, then please send me a personal message. It's time to stop holding back from doing what we can do, to stop abdicating our responsibilities and stop living in fear, because a better world will arrive when we do.

Written by Barnabas England 5th November 2023