What’s Wrong With the World?
What’s wrong with the world? Well, you are. And I am. We are. Before we begin blaming everyone and everything, we need to take a quick personal inventory. Start by pointing your finger. Go ahead, I’ll wait. Now, if you’ve formed your hand properly, as you point your finger outward, you’ll notice something very interesting…underneath the ‘safety’ of your thumb, you have 3 fingers pointing back at you. I believe that’s part of what’s wrong in the world; we want to blame others when in truth we ALL are contributing to the downward spiral of life. And we’re covering it up with our hardened hearts, pride, and disbelief, thinking we are “safe” from being part of the problem.
Now, I know this is not a new concept, and you’ve probably heard the 3 fingers thing before, but as I was reading one of the apostle Paul’s letters this morning, I realized that way back then he knew this idea to be true. In 1 Timothy 1:15 he penned, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the worst.” Of course, he was right, because before coming to faith in Jesus, Paul was a bad guy…and while we might not all have done the things he did, many of us have things in our past that would make a good scary movie! But, our past doesn’t have to define us. Jesus came into the world to save sinners (John 3:17), which we all are!
So back to the original question: what’s wrong with the world? The answer is a simple, 3-letter word. S-I-N. We were born with it, not by choice, but because the very first two humans failed and disobeyed God, resulting in getting us all cursed. But God in His mercy has not left us to flounder and suffer with this curse. He gave us the cure! The remedy is believing that Jesus, God’s son, came to earth and died in our place; but He didn’t stay dead. He rose from the dead and conquered sin and death so that if we have faith in Him, we can be redeemed from the final result of sin, which is to spend forever (life after death) in hell, away from God. Unfortunately, we still have to deal with the illness of sin while we are living on the earth, but we can know that it won’t condemn us to hell in the end.
So, we are what is wrong in the world….but with God’s help we can rise above the condemning result and be part of the solution, by trusting in the One who made us and is able to save us. Take that pointing finger you made earlier and turn it upward, showing the way to God and giving Him the glory He deserves; and you’ll start to notice some blessings coming back at you (sometimes 3-fold!). God has promised believers a new life to live, free from the impending result of sin.
Have questions? Contact me and we’ll talk some more. This is real. This is what is important and right in the world.