THE PROBLEM:
Why do bad things happen to good people? Why so much evil in the world? Why are there so many different religions in the world and what is the meaning of life? Why do shoelaces always seem to break when you're in a hurry?
ANSWER:
The world as we know it is broken. It didn't start out this way. In the beginning, all was well. In fact, it was better than well. It was (as God puts it) "very good" (Genesis 1:31). Creation was perfect. Mankind was perfect. No pain, no evil, no unexplained bad things happening. No broken shoelaces. There was God and there was His creation and there was man, in a perfect relationship with His Creator.
And then it broke. Man was tempted; mankind fell. Death entered the scene and the corruption of the human race began a downward spiral that continues to this day. Everything we could ever desire for was there for us with only one stipulation; Avoid the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil. From our perspective, it would seem to be a no brainer. Eat from the Tree of Life and live forever or, eat from the other tree and die. One would think Adam would have simply built a large box around the bad tree just to make sure they didn't even go near it. The point is, God gave them one simple instruction and they disobeyed it. For that, all of mankind has paid the price (Romans 5:12).
Bad things happen because of sin. We sin because we're sinners. It's in our nature. It's what we crave (even more than White Castle burgers). This explains why evil people do evil things. Why horrible things happen. Why peace never lasts. Why we get old & die (often too young). Why marriages fail, children disobey, disease destroys us, hurtful things are said, things don't go our way and shoelaces break.
THE SOLUTION:Before we can understand the solution, we first need to see the big picture. God is absolutely perfect (Habakkuk 1:13). Nothing in Him or about Him has a single flaw. In fact, He is so Holy and so perfect that if we were to even catch a glimpse of Him, we would be utterly consumed by His magnificence. God created all things, controls all things and knows all things. Nothing surprises Him. He is Sovereign.
Man on the other hand, is not so perfect. The Bible describes the problem of man in many places...
"The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." ~ Genesis 6:5
"Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil." ~ Jeremiah 13:23
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?~ Jeremiah 17:9
"None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God."~ Romans 3:10-11
"We were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind."
~ Ephesians 2:3
So, the root of our problems is our heart. Every evil thing we do or desire is born in the desires of our heart.
In order to show mankind the way back to God, He had to first teach us who we are and that we can't be good enough to earn our way back. ENTER THE LAW. The 10 Commandments. The "Thou Shalt's". Every one of us has broken them either in our actions or in our thoughts. Jesus further expanded them by pointing out that even thinking lustful thoughts is the same as committing adultery. The Old Testament set the stage for the solution to mankind's' sin problem by using the Law to reveal how sinful and without hope we really are when it comes to pleasing God.
"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned- every one- to his own way."~ Isaiah 53:6
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." ~ Romans 3:23
The Bible is God's story. His plan of reconciling man to Himself. In it, we see His plan, purpose and Glory revealed. We see His patience and long-suffering displayed over thousands of years. Then, in the New Testament, we see Him doing something that is beyond human understanding; The Creator enters the world as one of His creations. The God of the universe becomes a mere man in His Son, Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ came for one reason only:
"The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." ~ 1 Timothy 1:15.
He came to save that which was lost. To save man from His sins. Essentially, God came to save us from Himself. Jesus didn't come simply to perform miracles or teach us to be good, moral people. He didn't come to feed the poor or balance social injustice (at least not in the physical sense). He came because there was only one way to restore mankind to God and that was to take our place & become the perfect sacrifice. To pay the price that only He could pay.
SIN IS WHY WE'RE BROKEN - CHRIST IS THE ONLY SOLUTION
We have strived for thousands of years to try and make our own way back to God. We've tried to earn our way through works and blasphemous religions. We've tried twisting & distorting the truth to justify our rebellious ways. We've embraced all sorts of man-centered, post-modern, pop-psycho-babble. Every single religion apart from Chrisitianity has at it's core a works-based system to try and appease God.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ goes completely against these other religions; It goes completely against what 'feels' right to mankind. Religion isn't the answer. Being good doesn't cut it. Obtaining great knowledge is futile. There is only one way and that is through Jesus Christ (John 14:6). God isn't expecting us to keep a bunch of rules & traditions; He is only asking that we turn from our ways (repent) and turn to what He has done for us on The Cross. Christianity is about undeserved grace.
While this seems somewhat too easy, it's actually the hardest thing for a human being to do... die to self; submit and put all of our trust fully in Christ. Why so hard? Because our human (sinful) nature is self-centered and we love our sin. Because we think quite highly of ourselves and we seek to gain recognition for our own goodness. It's not in our nature to lie down and submit but, that's the call of the Gospel...
Let go, Let God.
~ktf~
John
