Every now and then, a song captures the essence of a generation. Whether it is music from Guthrie, Dylan, The Sex Pistols, The Smiths or Oasis - every age has had it's soundtrack. Whilst listening to John Mayer's song "Waiting on the world to change" this morning, it occurred to me how accurately it describes the half-apathy I see in so many students.
People often land in between not caring and doing something about it. They can see problems, needs and people without Jesus - but don't do anything about it because they are not sure they have the tools or energy for the job. Thoughts like, "someone else will fix it, I will do something about it tomorrow" pervade their mind. But this is dangerous, life-freezing ground. I believe that the students of today are the ones who are going to be the change makers of tomorrow - the question is, which students and what changes? As John Mayer puts it, "One day our generation, is gonna rule the population. So we keep on waiting, waiting on the world to change."
This is not what Jesus says. In John 14:12-14 he says these breath-taking words (try believing these!)
"Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."
The students today who decide that they are going to change the world are the ones who will do it. Fusion are working with hundreds of churches who have thousands of students. This is a movement in the making. My prayer is that those thousands of students will live in the truth that they will do greater things than Jesus, because he has given them authority to do that.
Let's not wait on the world to change, let's spin it upside down for God.
(here are the lyrics to the song)
Me and all my friends
We're all misunderstood
They say we stand for nothing and
There's no way we ever could
Now we see everything that's going wrong
With the world and those who lead it
We just feel like we don't have the means
To rise above and beat it
So we keep waiting
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change
It's hard to beat the system
When we're standing at a distance
So we keep waiting
Waiting on the world to change
Now if we had the power
To bring our neighbors home from war
They would have never missed a Christmas
No more ribbons on their door
And when you trust your television
What you get is what you got
Cause when they own the information, oh
They can bend it all they want
That's why we're waiting
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change
It's not that we don't care,
We just know that the fight ain't fair
So we keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change
And we're still waiting
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting waiting on the world to change
One day our generation
Is gonna rule the population
So we keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change
We keep on waiting
Waiting on the world to change
