Transform

If we have encountered the one true God, and surrendered our lives to Him, then we recognize that we have a new nature and, as we allow Him, He can change our hearts, our motives, and our thoughts, and motivate us to participate in unselfish actions. 2nd Peter 1 says:

2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
3 as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,
4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

We have been invited to share in the very nature of the risen Lord!  That is exciting news and has distinct implications for our lives every day - and He doesn't just call us into some cold and lifeless religious practice; no, He places the fire of His Spirit in our hearts and we share in His life.  When we are surrendered, we can encounter the divine and recognize that inner change will lead to outward impact - our external actions are transformed and we can be people who truly communicate the message of Christ to a culture that desperately needs to hear it.

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There's a passage in 2nd Corinthians 4 which offers a look at the surrendered life. We can read:
6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

When award-winning musicians speak of God and take part in action that is inspiring and perhaps inspired by Him, I like to take notice.  And, on this edition of Famous Friday, offering instances where faith apparently motivates celebrities, I want to call attention to 2 award-winning artists.

Not long ago, after the Grammys, I called attention to Chance the Rapper, who won multiple awards and performed on stage in a medley that included Chris Tomlin's How Great is Our God.  At that time, I mentioned Chance's affinity for his hometown of Chicago.  Well, he is now spending his money on his community.  ChristianHeadlines.com reports about his donation of $1 million to Chicago Public Schools, according to Pitchfork.com.  The article says that, "Chance said his goal is to be an advocate for the kids and not to make any political statement."

He is quoted as saying, "Our kids should not be held hostage because of political positions."

And, students took notice.  In an open letter published at Billboard.com, three students wrote this:

All of the things that you do for our city never go unnoticed. All of the free concerts you host and all the time you spend here in the city really show you care. We notice it. We look up to you because the fame usually takes humility away from artists, but it hasn’t changed you.

There are many big celebrities from Chicago, but you are one of the few that really give back. It is evident that you sincerely care for the youth here. This is why you are an inspiration to us. We appreciate you for not only representing us through your music, but also through your actions.

In Chicago, a person is shot every 2 hours and 48 minutes. A person is murdered every 14 hours and 27 minutes, and you helped stop gun violence in Chicago for 42 hours with the help of your Twitter account and various Chicago radio stations. Even though this was three years ago, the fact you had such a tremendous impact on Chicago shows how much the people of this city look up to you.

Here is someone who has been blessed with dollars and wants to play some part in transforming his community.  To me, it is a reminder of the role of the Church in bringing about positive change, inspired by the Spirit of God.

Latin Grammy winner Alex Campos has experienced that inward transformation. When he was a child, his father left their family and later, Alex was a victim of sexual abuse, according to a piece on the BillyGraham.org website.  He was featured in an online article prior to a recent Franklin Graham Festival of Hope in Puerto Rico.  The story states:

“One day, our grandparents told us, ‘You need to come to church with us,’” he said. A couple of years later, he surrendered his heart and life to Jesus Christ.

“At the age of 12, I remember I had a very powerful encounter with the Lord during a time of praise and worship. I wondered why people sing, why people raise their hands and why they express themselves like that. And in the midst of asking myself and God all of these questions, God came into my heart in a very special, very powerful way. He filled the void created by my father’s abandonment so many years before.”

Campos wrote about his healing process from sexual abuse in a book called, Del Llanto a la Sonrisa (From Tears to Joy), and he told BGEA that healing occurred, "as I relinquished my own plans … when I laid my [metaphorical] weapons aside, when I stopped complaining and murmuring, when I put a stop to all that and recognized … that God is the only one who could help me, the one who can deliver me from the valley of the shadow of death. And when did I recognize it? When I began to focus and praise God..."

The main takeaway, I think, in linking these two stories, is that we can be reminded that God is all about transformation - He brings about real and lasting change in our lives.  And, we can connect the dots between inward transformation and community involvement.  He does not save us in order for us to keep it to ourselves.  If our hearts are regenerated by Christ, then we can develop a recognition of His love not only for us, but for the people with whom we interact.  Because of His inward change, He can use us to bring about cultural change.

So, we can think about those concepts of influence, of recognizing the mission to which God has called us, and the strategic placement that we can utilize.  Perhaps God is orchestrating circumstances to get you into the perfect position to make an impact on a person or group of people - could be small, could be dramatic.  It's all in His hands, and it's all about His purpose.  And, that's a great message on this St. Patrick's Day, as we observe an evangelist who was dedicated to see things change spiritually in the country of Ireland.  For him, inward change became outward responsibility.