To me, this is the real meaning and purpose of Christianity. God sent His Son to give birth to many sons. God chose to reveal Himself to a generation through His Son, a man infused with the life of God. Now His purpose is the same, multiplied. He infuses His life into people who believe in Him, and reveals Himself through those God-soaked people.
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The world is definitely waiting for something. The world is missing something, needing something, yearning for something. You’ve seen the pictures of war-torn or poverty-stricken countries around the world. You’ve heard the stories of violence and hatred and poverty in our own country, and perhaps even experienced some of it yourself. Yes, the world is in need. Something just isn’t right.
Considering the exponential growth in human knowledge, the advances in medicine and technology, it may be logical to assume that the human community would be living in Utopian bliss by now; but it seems like the opposite is true. Even the super-rich, who actually have access to all these gifts brought to us by the triumphs of human creativity, seem to be floundering…perhaps more than anyone. The world needs something.
Romans 8:19 says, “The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.” In other words, the missing element in the human formula is not greater ingenuity or effort; it’s not in technology or medicine or knowledge or achievement of any kind. The missing puzzle piece is a personal encounter.
What might surprise you most, however, especially if you’re an evangelical, is that it’s not a single person that the world needs...specifically, it’s not Jesus. If it were Jesus, Paul would have written that the “Son,” not “sons” of God needed to be revealed. God already revealed His Son to the world. What the world hasn’t seen, at least not with much frequency, are “sons” of God.
The beauty, richness, power and authenticity that the world yearns for will not be found in an encounter with God’s Son, although that’s the goal and the eventual result. Again, this may be tough to swallow if you were raised in Church, but the creation is not waiting for an encounter with Jesus; they’re waiting for an encounter with you and me.
This floundering system of unhealthy relationships, dysfunctional families, greed-driven institutions and market-driven churches has been confronted with the truth of Jesus and has rejected it, but that’s not God’s whole plan. The second phase of His plan, the one most of us have missed, is to reveal sons and daughters just like Jesus who live and work and move through this natural system in a supernatural way.
What this world needs is an encounter with people of flesh and bone whose lives and love prove that God is real and that Jesus is alive. That’s the prize they deeply long for, but do not even know to seek. What the world is waiting for, what the world is missing, what the world needs in order to finally be made right, is you.
To me, this is the real meaning and purpose of Christianity. God sent His Son to give birth to many sons. God chose to reveal Himself to a generation through His Son, a man infused with the life of God. Now His purpose is the same, multiplied. He infuses His life into people who believe in Him, and reveals Himself through those God-soaked people.
So am I saying the world doesn’t need Jesus? No, of course the world needs Jesus, but Jesus is in us. Look at it this way. What you need is Jesus—what the world needs is you. God put you where you are so that He could use you to show Himself and His love to your little corner of the world. God has heard the world’s cry for help, and He has responded by giving them His next greatest gift…you and me.
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