We live in a fallen world. That isn’t really a big surprise to anyone. A quick look around you and it is fairly obvious. Just an honest look at my own life will bear witness to that. The world we live in is full of sin and evil. But that isn’t really anything new. It has been like that since close to the beginning of man. It has been a fallen world since Adam and Eve.
I like to listen and observe. There has been a lot of debate lately about the need for more laws and regulations in several different areas. Everything from gun control to healthcare to education. Sometimes these debates get a little passionate as some people are firmly grounded in their opinion and not at all open to hearing anything different. “I don’t need to care about what anyone else says, I already have all the answers.” “I don’t care about the facts, only how it makes me feel.” The answers to all our social and political issues are, of course, to create new laws to make people behave like we believe they should.
Most of the time I sit quietly and listen. Sometimes I even laugh quietly to myself. We are asking all the wrong questions. We are debating the wrong topics. The answer to all these debates is not more laws. We have laws now that are not being followed. We have become so self sufficient as a nation and as a society, that we have begun to believe that we have all the right answers. We may have the right answers, but they are to the wrong questions.
We are a fallen people. Do we need better gun control laws? Maybe, but that isn’t going to stop shootings. Do we need better regulation in healthcare? Maybe, but that isn’t going to stop the fraud. The answer to education is not more class time or tests. We are asking the wrong questions. There is a common underlying problem driving all of these issues. It is a nation and a culture that is moving away from a Biblical foundation. A nation where we expect the government to solve all our problems. We turn away from Christ and the Biblical foundations and in our own arrogance look to ourselves for the solutions. Then we wonder why things are getting bad. The only possible answer could be more laws and more government control. As things continue to get worse, we cry out for even more laws and government regulations. “Somebody else needs to fix this for me.” That is not the answer and we are not asking the right questions.
As we continue to push further and further away from Biblical teachings and the foundations of our Christian faith and heritage, we become a nation without hope. As our family structure becomes more complex and begins to crumble and we farm our kids out to be raised by daycares instead of parents, we become a nation without values. There are many factors that are playing into the issues and problems we have as a nation and society. But it all comes back to one thing. We have quit teaching and following the Bible and taking it as truth. Even in our churches, we sometimes shy away from teaching the hard truths because they might not be “politically correct” and we might offend someone and they might not come back.
Following the Biblical teachings is not cumbersome. It is not restrictive. It is really very freeing. When I begin to lose focus and follow my own path, that is when I feel the most discomfort and stress. When my life is more closely aligned with the Biblical teaching and the ways of Christ, that is when I feel the most at peace and the most freedom. Getting back to the Bible is the only answer to the issues we face. It is not a complete solution. There is no complete solution. After all, we do live in a fallen world and Satan is alive and well and roaming among us… but my God is too.
Where the Spirit of the Lord is,
2 Corinthians 3:17
There is Freedom
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
John 3: 16-21
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own son in the likeness of man, as an offering for sin.
Romans 8: 1-3
I can on,y say, “Amen!”