The only mission that actually changes the human condition …

A story is told about a father who sat down to read a magazine, but he was constantly interrupted by his young son who was bored and looking for something to do. To keep the boy occupied, the father found a page in the magazine that had a detailed map of the world on it. He tore the page into several jagged pieces to create a complex, homemade jigsaw puzzle. Feeling rather smug with himself the father said, “Okay son, here’s a geography lesson for you. If you can put the puzzle together before lunch I will give you $10 as a reward.” With that, the father sat back to enjoy the rest of his magazine and the young boy set about completing the complex puzzle. Five minutes later the proud boy presented the completed picture of the world map to his dumbfounded father. “How on earth did you manage to do it so quickly,” his dad asked in astonishment. “Oh, it was really quite easy,” said the boy. “You see, on the other side of the page with the map of the world on it, there was a picture of a man. I knew that all I had to do was to work at getting the man right and then the world would fall into place and that would be right too.”

This story exposes a failure that has existed for thousands of years as people have tried to fix the world through external means. They have built massive institutions, written endless laws, and fought world-altering wars, believing that if they could just rearrange the structures of society, they could finally bring peace and fulfillment. Every one of these efforts has failed to produce a lasting good because an institution cannot change a human soul, a law cannot make a person righteous, and a war only destroys the very material it claims to be saving.

Beyond these grand systems, the individual pursuits are just as ineffective. People have chased after sexual conquest and romantic obsession, believing that a person could fill the void in their lives. They have turned to drugs and alcohol to escape a reality they cannot control. They have climbed the ladders of career and power, accumulating wealth and influence, only to find that the view from the top is just as empty as the view from the bottom. Even marriage, having children, and building a family are often crushed under the weight of people trying to use them to find a security and a meaning that no human being can provide for another.

Every one of these pursuits is an attempt to rearrange the external world while ignoring the state of the person. You cannot change the world through a better career, a more stable government, a new relationship, or a more rigorous legal code, because none of those things possess the power to transform the human soul. These are external diversions that leave the root of the problem untouched. The world is a disaster because the people in it are separated from God, and no amount of human ingenuity, legislation, social programs, education, or military force can bridge that gap.

The reason making disciples is the mission of the church is that it is the only mission that addresses the core of this failure. The world only changes when the people in it are transformed. This is not a self-help program or a behavioral adjustment; it is a literal transformation performed by God. This transformation requires entering into a covenant relationship with Jesus Christ, which is the only point where the trajectory of a human life is actually altered.

“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” 2 Corinthians 5:17.

When a person enters into this covenant they are not just improved, they are made new in Christ. As this happens person by person, their presence makes an impact on the world around them. They stop functioning out of the desperation that drives the pursuit of power, sex, and money, and they begin to live according to the will of the Father. This is the only way the world ever sees a life lived as God intended. To prioritize anything over the Great Commission — to favor social projects, political movements, or institutional management — is to ignore the only thing that has the power to transform a human life.

The boy was right, you don’t fix the map. You fix the man.

Scotty