Humanity has known how to boil water for a very long time. Suffice to say, as long as we’ve built fires, we’ve known about steam. The science is simple: water molecules get so excited and agitated they escape into the atmosphere as vapor. In a diffuse environment those molecules hang around uselessly like a locker room fog. That’s a day in the atmospheric-life of Houston Texas—agitated water molecules serving no purpose. But if we constrict the space and trap the molecules we could use their energy towards a purposeful end. For example, early experimenters in the eighteenth century started trapping evaporation into a small chamber containing a piston. Overly excited molecules would expand and push up on the piston. That piston was attached to a lever. And that lever created a pumping action that turned a wheel. The experimenters learned how to harness the agitated energy and direct it into a very specific and useful purpose—the first steam engine. That development jumpstarted a revolution in harnessing energy towards industry and manufacturing.

It has become easier than ever, thanks to technology and global communication, to be overwhelmed and agitated by news, by wars, by injustices, and by problems all around that world. Problem after problem excites us, and agitates us. And each of these global issues demands a solution that feels complex and overwhelming. We feel somehow, vaguely or acutely, connected to issues halfway across the planet. We feel generally guilty that we aren’t able to intervene in a more productive way. Stress, anxiety, and fatigue have become the atmospheric pressure like the humidity hanging over Houston Texas. Yet, because the needs are so vast and dispersed our agitation contributes very little to a productive and specific solution. Translation—we feel helpless.

Local

My simple encouragement for us today is to focus our energy into engaging locally. That’s where you have the most influence. That’s where you’ll see the most results. Address what is directly in front of you. If you can harness your energy into a smaller concentrated area, a specific issue, ministry, family, church, group, relationship, or cause—something with a lever—you can generate real industrial momentum on specific issues in a smaller community. Your resources of money, creativity, prayers, activism, and attention span are limited. Learn to channel your productive energies into smaller more accurate spaces. Find productive and tangible solutions to real local problems. That isn’t self-serving, it’s investing in the health of those you have the most power to influence.

The scriptures give us a repeated pattern that may give us incite on how to prioritize our limited resources. Generally, responsibility flows in this order:  

• Self and Family
• Clan and Tribe
• Nation
• Nations

Responsibility always begins with self, then your closest family relationships. Before you help someone else heal, you need healing yourself. Before you fix someone else’s marriage, you have to invest in your own marriage—or children, or aging parents.

Social relationships and community engagement come next (the clan and tribe): your classroom; co-worker; church; the homeless shelter in your town; the after-school program on your street; environmental responsibility in your local township; the single mom who waits on your table in your favorite restaurant. By attaching your values to local relationships and specific applications you can generate a lot more productive and industrial movement in shaping your community and making a difference in people’s lives that you see weekly or monthly. It’s very rewarding to see the fruit of your efforts materialize into a changed community that you care about; you have more ownership and control. In his book Smarter, Faster, Better Charles Duhigg writes, “the need for control is a biological imperative...when people believe they are in control they tend to work harder and push themselves more.” It’s kind of obvious, right?

Yes, God also calls us to disciple nations. Of course we are called to think about God’s kingdom advancing around the world. But we can only reproduce in others what we have cultivated in ourselves. Sometimes the vague allure of making a difference somewhere else can cover up our boredom or disappointment with the tenacious issues and unglamorous life of local responsibility. The question we should ask is, which pot is God calling you to plant your roots into? Some people he sends around the world. Others are called to be the senders, but to themselves stay behind and build his kingdom here—locally. In either case, we grow roots in the pot we are planted in, and invest in the people we know.

Conclusion

This article is supposed to be an encouragement and not an additional stressor. The world is a big place; it’s got big problems. You don’t need to solve all of those problems yourself. Focus on fully investing in the one or two things right in front of you, and trust that God is the ruler over the rest. What is God asking you to transform with his truth and his love? After you have invested in yourself and your family, then, see where the Lord may be empowering you to get involved in the community that you care most deeply about.   

Tags: responsibility; community; local; local outreach; activism; engagement; solutions