What frustrates me is that people look at that suffering - Americans, friends of mine who are wealthy and fortunate and blessed - and say to themselves, and often to me, either there is no God or the God there is has no compassion for us. He is not worth following.
I believe this: God is there. He sees our problems. He acknowledges the pain running rampant in the world. And he already addressed the issue. But, from what I've read in the bible, God is not a God who merely treats symptoms. He is a God who cures disease. The disease is our rebellion from God, started in Eden and progressed throughout history. Outside of God's perfect presence we are prone to selfishness. So he gave us the cure for our broken world when he gave his son as a sacrifice for our sin.
Here's what I wrote this morning. A peek into my private thought life:
People are so quick to blame God for the suffering and poverty in the world. And so, believing that a perfect, loving God could not allow that kind of pain for his creations, he must not exist. Or, if he does, he really doesn't love us and so is not worth following. But the bible is clear that God is not blind to the poor. He is not blind to suffering.
However, God placed us in charge of the Earth. And he, Jesus as well, repeatedly commanded us to care for the poor and suffering. Again, people are so quick to blame God. Have we ever stopped for a second to consider that maybe the responsibility for our world's condition is ours? We are accountable for the poor and suffering. The human condition causes imperfect situations, not God's will.
He's taken a fairly hands-off approach with us in giving us free-will. Yes, God could solve all the problems in the world in one fell swoop. But God, for his own reasons, gave that task to us. If it weren't for our greed, there would be no poverty at all. God has solved our biggest problem. He stepped in and remedied the only thing we absolutely could not remedy ourselves: the rift between us and himself. He gave us salvation for our souls.
There are some things on Earth that cause suffering that we cannot fix, like disease and natural disaster. But as unfortunate and heart-breaking as those things are, they are not proof of a lack of love from God. People are meant to pass from this world. And God wants, longs for us to pass from this world to his presence. Our world is broken, and we have to accept that pain will come. But compared to eternity, any struggle we experience here is fleeting.
God gave us reason to hope for more than what is placed immediately before us. He has commanded us to live for more than what is immediately before us. God has seen the suffering we, at times, experience on Earth and has offered us, as a free gift, eternal freedom from all suffering in his presence. More than that, he offers us an eternity of reasons to rejoice in a New Heaven and New Earth.
But, because he doesn't instantaneously remove our present pain, he either doesn't exist or doesn't love us?
How arrogant we are.
Maybe, just maybe, could we have a little faith that creator of all Heaven and Earth, who is outside of time, might just possibly be a wee bit wiser than we are?
I don't understand a lot. But Christ makes the world make sense to me. Taking responsibility, as the human race, for the current state of our world, makes the shit-fest we see on the news and on the streets more understandable. We need a savior, because without one, mankind does terrible things. Even with one, we're still prone to mess things up. I mean, look at the crusades. Rough. Thankfully, our misuse of the name of God doesn't change the truth of his word and the validity of his commission to serve one another.
So yeah, it's on us.
We caused this. We turned from God and, in turn, turned from each other. And now, while surveying the filth that resulted, we sit in self-righteous judgement of the state of creation and blame God for our mess. But it's on us. It's on me. Jesus said, 'In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." Jesus went to the heart of the issue, our souls. That's what he overcame. It's now up to us to follow the perfect law - love The Lord your God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself - and so address the symptoms and disease all at once. To have healing we must cure the disease.
I get why people want to blame someone else for the suffering around us. It's so much easier than admitting that we, as a race, are naturally greedy and fallen. We want to believe we are basically good, and I believe people want to be good, but our tendency is toward selfishness. So we complain about the state of the world, but most people only place blame and yet do nothing to serve their fellow man.
I haven't done much to serve yet and don't even know how exactly I can serve. But understanding that the source of the problem is us is a start. And it's our responsibility to heed the call, through God's grace and by following God's perfect law of loving - and in loving, serving - our fellow man. God has our back. But we have to act.
Please do not misunderstand me. Being a Christian does not make anyone magically selfless and generous toward others. And I am aware that there are many people who have no faith at all that do incredible things for mankind. But I genuinely believe that taking Christ's words and turning them into action has a funny way of transforming hearts from selfishness and apathy into compassion and mercy toward others. I believe the more people who live Christ's compassion, the fewer empty stomachs and lint-filled pockets there will be.
p.s. In case my written train of thought seemed like nonsense to you, I'm always up for a friendly theological or philosophical discussion.
No comments:
Post a Comment