This distinctive reminds us that when we invited Christ Jesus into our lives, when He became our core and centerpiece - our Lord as well as our Savior, we CHANGED.  Easy as that.  If Christ is central, He will transform that person, place or thing.

When the Bible says, you will be saved, you and your household, what does that mean?  A household in those days was more than just a man.  It included his spouse, his children, his servants, his business (often in the home) and those employees he had there.  Everything.

We see that Christ makes a difference when we invite Him to be central in our lives, our thoughts, our day.  We dedicate our marriages to Him, our children to Him and even our homes.  But why stop there?  We are seeing that when we invite Christ into public arenas, He comes.  Is this in violation of church and state?  No.  Is this proselytizing?  No.  It is simply inviting the life and light of Christ, who is, by the way, the WISDOM and the POWER of God, to come inside and do what only He can do.

In Revelation 3, the Spirit says, "here I am, I stand at the door and knock..."  He is knocking on the door of the church, He wants in.  Today He knocks at the door of cities and nations.  He wants to apply His wisdom and power to the issues we face, not simply to an individual’s heart's, but in the marketplace and institutions of our day.  The neighborhoods, the campuses, the governments have a tremendous need for WISDOM, protection, light and NOT darkness, and the ability to accomplish what's needed - POWER.  Formally inviting Him in, dedicating what we to Him, and allowing Him center stage in all our affairs is part of bringing transformation.  He IS transformation!

Too many times we fail to invite Christ into the heart of what's going on cause we're too afraid, distracted or busy trying to figure out a solution so we can pray a good idea for God to do on our behalf.  This sounds funny, but it's true. 

We want a city where Christ has been formally invited to be central, to move in and stay, in every place of our community life.  If Christ resides there, then darkness can't move in there, it's already inhabited.  Darkness may attack, but it cannot reside.  If we ask Him for bread will He give us a stone?  If we invite Him to come in, will He not?  He waits for the invite.

We are also reminded that the reason for doing anything is Christ.  We love because He first loved us.  We move to transform regions and people groups because he first transformed us.  (See Isa 61:1-3, then Isa 61:4-7)  The reason to pray for people, love the environments of our city in His name, serve our neighbor in love, and mobilize with His grace together is NOT to build our own empires, or name, but because Christ commissioned us to do it.

He is central, and when he is, transformation comes.