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“I searched for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand in the gap before Me for the land, so that I would not destroy it; but I found no one.” (Ezekiel 22:30, NASV)

“We are constantly on a stretch, if not on a strain, to devise new methods, new plans, new organizations to advance the Church and secure enlargement and efficiency for the gospel. This trend of the day has a tendency to lose sight of the man, or sink the man, in the plan or organization. God’s plan is to make much of the man, far more of him than of anything else. Men are God’s method. The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men.” (E.M. Bounds)

    What insight! “Men are God’s method.” I’m amazed at such a thought. The work of God in this world isn’t a technique, nor some tricky concept one can only learn from a spiritual guru, not even the latest research-based professional methodology. Don’t misunderstand. Such things can serve as valid tools. There is much to learn about how to communicate God’s word and instill its livable concepts into human hearts. However, nothing compares with God’s own tool of choice — human beings.

“The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men.”

    In every age, God has sought for those who choose Him over the world. He wants people who are willing to live by faith, trusting in things they cannot see with their physical eyes, and willing to act in ways that make no sense to the rest of the world. He wants people who yearn for His holiness and goodness, and who reach for it, not to hold it in their hands to admire it, but who desperately want to live it themselves.

    God is always in need of people who refuse to give in to the world. These people believe there is something better than the mire in which most are trapped. They recognize the uselessness and inevitable failure of sin, so they resist. These are people who listen to God’s Word, who know the shame of finding out there is sin present, and joy when they learn how to be forgiven. They know that life outside of God’s will is a dead-end street so they rebel against the tide of evil.

    Such people change the world. They do so, not because they’ve manipulated others with some super-spiritual technique, rather they change the world by showing others the fruit of a godly life. They will not change everyone. In fact, they may discover more enemies than ever, but that is the evil they face. Still, they will not surrender. They fight daily to make God real by living God’s ways. In the process, they bring salvation with them. What do you bring?