If this truly is God's world, why is it so messed up?
If this is God's creation and He is perfect, what in heck has happened?
Why must we actively search for God; why isn't He evident in every day life?
These are valid questions; though they may have been asked a thousand different ways.
I can testify, the most difficult question to answer for pastors is 'why?'
"Pastor, why did the wife I love treat me so wrong - having multiple affairs?"
"Pastor, why can't we have children?"
"Pastor, how did I get cancer; I'm a servant of God?"
Difficult questions.
What I have discovered is that there is a huge difference between the ideal a Christian describes and the actual world in which we live.
In our hearts and minds we have a deep intuition as to how the world should operate.
Where did we get it?
It certainly didn't come from within; it came from God long ago.
Like a crash on stock market, the introduction of sin into our world disordered everything and though we have faint reminders of how things once were - we still do not know how to deal with our own fallen state.
As I read the Prophets, they unanimously describe a coming world that is the exact opposite of what we see today in the land where the prophets walked.
Adam & Eve reached too far - beyond what humans were ever meant to reach.
And that is why things are the way they are in the world today.
This is why some wives and husbands cannot remain faithful to their vows, their children or their Lord.
It is why some families are forced to adopt and though there seems to be nothing wrong otherwise, biological children escape their grasp.
It is why young men who seem to be healthy are eaten up with cancer, women in the prime of their life have tumors and children are given over to the iron grip of death much too soon.
Sin is nothing more than righteousness run amok; when sin entered a righteous world created by God - everything went amok.
In many cases, sin forces us to choose the artificial or the real; shall we choose temporary passion or lasting, true love?
Sin demands we decide between the fleeting and the lasting.
Being human, it means that we are always grasping for more - which means that we are confronted with choices every day and we MUST choose.
Humans are not like computers in a moral sense; computers can just do what they are programmed to do.
Computers don't want; humans care about things, people and life. What we want, we will choose.
We are not like animals, who are content simply by living, surviving and reproducing. Human beings want more.
We want more because we once had more...long ago, before it was forfeited and now we long for it to be restored as it once was by the power of Christ.
Have you ever watched a Sci-Fi movie or TV show where aliens were invading the earth?
If you have then you know that aliens, even friendly ones, are always pictured as much more superior when compared to humans.
You see, being human even imperfectly, offers an odd attraction; while the Bible tells us that we are created a little above the angels, pop culture will echo this strange attraction by showing us that even Superman fell in love.
That odd attraction that humanity has is the very thing that has led to the state of the world as we know it. It is our freedom of choice.
Quite possibly the greatest picture of grace in Scripture could be the story Jesus tells in the Gospels of the Prodigal Son.
The Prodigal Son made the choice to take his inheritance and leave the family farm; soon, he was in horrid straits but eventually came home. Instead of being condemned, he was welcomed home because he was lost but then had been found.
We learn something from the Prodigal Son, Adam & Eve, Noah and Jesus Christ; there is a common thread with them all.
God's method of dealing with evil in the world is not to prevent it; it is to cure it.
And His decision to cure the wicked curse of the earth meant for a Cross to appear on the horizon of history for the salvation of all those who would trust Him by faith.
While I cannot explain "why" everything happens in our lives, and I do not know why all has happened; I do know how - how the cure is achieved: Through Christ.
He is the ultimate and final solution.
Until next time, win one for the good guys.
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