Prescription for a sick world
I have lately felt more overwhelmed than usual by all the evil in the world. Murders, rapes, terrorist attacks, mass shootings, tortuous persecution. We see it in the 
news every day…a sad and sober reality of the era in which we live. We often think the measure and degree of evil is on the rise and man’s inhumanity to man wasn’t quite so bad in years past. But I believe it’s more likely that a perceived increase in evil is a result of advances in technology that bring the world closer as well as maximize the potential for harm.
I wrote previously here about war atrocities and man’s propensity for evil, and have recently been reading a history of Christianity, which, sadly, only confirms the ubiquitousness across eras, civilizations, religions and people groups, of humanity’s capability to do horrible things to one another. It just sickens my heart.
Some fault God for all the pain and cruelty so many suffer at the hands of their fellow man. But we have only ourselves to blame, as I touched on in my 3-part post, Why doesn’t God do something? On the contrary, from the very beginning God has been calling us out for our stubborn refusal to submit to him and be blessed, all the while offering us forgiveness and restoration, and peace, if we would only do things his way.
The remedy for the sin sickness that has infected the human race like flesh-eating bacteria that destroy the body from within, is available to all without cost. A spiritual disease calls for a spiritual treatment. Nothing else will cure us. Oh, we can treat the symptoms with man-made solutions, but they’ll just keep coming back. What we need is to return to the God who made us, confess and repent of our sins, and submit to a Spirit transfusion, remaking us into new creatures, rebirthing us into new life.
So I’ve decided that, for the foreseeable future anyway, I am going to concentrate my efforts here on proclaiming and exalting my God and Savior, the one who loves us and gave himself for us, and explaining as best I can his plan of salvation so that perhaps some will understand and believe. Changed hearts are the prescription for a sick world bent on evil. And the love of God is the drug that can bring about that change.
Nothing else matters – gender issues, politics, rights and responsibilities – if people are lost, dead in their sins and in dire need of a Savior. I pray God uses me to connect with some of them, so that they recognize their malady, and turn to him for healing…and a brand new self that will never die.
The Great Physician has an unlimited supply of the only effective treatment for the world’s sin sickness, offered completely free of charge. He even makes house calls. Have you called him yet?
I do call Him. I join in prayer daily too with others. I pray for God’s will, not mine. I too abhor the evil that runs wild in the world. I do manage to take delight in the quiet inner peace of prayer and meditation and I wish to be full of this Spirit of holy origin as I am at work, on the roads, dealing with others at home or out and about. Its true too for me that issue have little importance (nothing else matters) — as these are matters of the sinful world. I do participate and I join in your prayer to ask that “God uses me to connect with some of them, so that they recognize their malady, and turn to him for healing…and a brand new self that will never die.”
Thanks for posting this.
~ Eric
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Thank you for your encouraging comment, brother. May God be praised and ourselves blessed as we see him work in and through us.
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It’s like I told my son when he stated this feeling to me…”It ain’t the world honey…the world doesn’t do evil things. It’s society–and humans. Not the world. Hope you feel better.
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Thank you for reading and commenting. It does help to connect with others who share your burden. You have encouraged me. 🙂
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It is my pleasure although we meet with such burden that as you now know, has been shared by all humans throughout its history. Prayer is great as is He who waits for his creation to learn how to play well with one another no matter from what parts of the earth we are from. Stay strong! 🙂
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I’m always grace-oriented with personal sin (choices) where people are held captive by their actions, addictions, etc . . . , but I’m not very tolerant of “systems” of sin and oppression, i.e. Pay Day Loans and the Lottery in the inner city, rings of human traffickers – I’m always shocked when people “join forces” to do really, really horrible things to vulnerable people. Here’s what Jesus had to say:
LUKE 4
16 He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17 and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:
18 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me,
because he has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners
and recovery of sight for the blind,
to set the oppressed free,
19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”[f]
20 Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 He began by saying to them, “Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.”
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Amen, brother. Poor, blind, oppressed prisoners are what we all are or were without Christ. Jesus really is the answer for all that is wrong in the world.
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