The Bible tells us the answer to the two questions we should all be asking.
The first is, why are things as they are?
The second is, how can they be put right?
That is the whole problem, is it not? It really comes down to that: diagnosis and treatment.
But here lies the rub, the difficulty. The world really does not want to consider that first question. It is only interested in the second. And the world does not like the Bible because it says that you cannot come to the second question unless you have truly understood the first.
The Bible stands against us at that very point and says, you cannot have the treatment until you have submitted to the diagnosis.
But the world hates this diagnosis. It says, I'm not interested in that. I don't care what the cause is as long as you can put it right.
We do not like probing analysis like that found in the Bible. We know what it is going to say about us, and we do not want that. The world today really hates the first part of the gospel; it wants the cure immediately.
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones made this point many years ago and it especially rings true even today.
Are you busy trying to put things right? Have you once considered your role in why things are broken to begin with?
We live in a world of solutions. Money is to be made solving problems but rarely do we ever consider what caused the problem in the first place. We seek silver bullets to carry away the pain we have from decisions we've made.
For some it is alcohol or drugs, for others, exercise or money. Some seek power and control, while others build giant walls around themselves for protection -- never letting anyone in close.
For believers, they seek the latest healing tool, insightful teaching, or some person with a visible source of power. "Surely there is a mysterious cure hidden within the walls of the Bible," they say.
And they are sort of right.
The solution is written there but it is not in the form of a "Prayer of Jabez" designed to bring you wealth.
It is written in the form of recognizing you are selfish and are wanting to be a god.
"No way," you quickly say, "I know better than to try and be God."
That's good of you to say but let's look at your life right now and determine which problems you have are the result of you knowing what's best for yourself. Your intentions may be sincere but you lack the wisdom to understand the result of most of your decisions.
As an example, you know you should be healthy but you aren't willing to address the things that cause you to be unhealthy. So when a pill comes along promising a fit body, you ingest it without even knowing what's in it or what it does to cause your body to lose weight. Worse still, what happens in 5 or 10 years as a result of taking this magic pill?
Or you go for a surgery that promises to take years off of your life. And you know what, that's exactly what it does -- just not in the way you were expecting.
In all honesty, we rarely have a clue what's good for us. We know what we would like right now, but is that good?
"Blessings" you call them. Those things that make your life good right now. There's a reason they offer candy and gossip magazines at the checkout -- because that's the stuff we really want right now.
Is that really a blessing though?
Being overweight with rotted teeth and organs that no longer work, that's a blessing to you?
Sitting in judgment of others' life decisions and indiscretions so you feel better about your life, that's a blessing to you?
Enough fantasizing and over-exaggerating your life decisions in the physical world. Let's now turn to our spiritual health.
We all know what we should be doing right now.
We should be loving not only our neighbors, but our enemies, as well.
We should be extending grace to people that do not have an understanding of God's ways. More importantly, we should be extending that grace to those that do know His ways.
We should ask for mercy for those that are perishing before our very eyes.
We should be first seeking the Kingdom of God -- instead of the promises of the world.
But for some reason we don't do those things.
And if we don't do those things, then we quickly think, "If I just ate some of that fruit, I could be like God!"
Then all of your problems would just go away.
But they don't do they? It seems that's when your problems just begin.
"Give me that pill that causes me to have the energy and courage to love others patiently because I sure don't have it within me to do on my own."
We want a shortcut into the Kingdom of God and we think the quickest way in is to be like God.
But the true path is much more difficult, isn't it? We have to actually be like God.
This is exactly the message of the Sermon on the Mount. You must become lower and lower every step of the way. Once you have reached the very bottom of all mankind and have become a servant of all, then and only then, will you actually walk as the Messiah walked.
"This is too hard", you say, "let me just eat some of that super-fruit, and I will do all of this and more! Give me some of that provision out there in the wilderness and I'll use that to grow the Garden. Power, money, comfort. Once I have those, I can serve well in the Kingdom."
Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah came and served with no power, money or comfort given to him by the world. Although the Adversary sure did try to tempt Him with these things.
But He held strong. No super-fruit for Him. He was going to use His Father's power, His Father's Provision, and His Father's Spirit to radically change the world itself.
So here you stand, seeking the path to the Kingdom and Yeshua has already told you the Way. All you have to do is give up your selfishness and trust that what He said is true.
Do you have the courage to ignore the serpent's twisting lies and turn back into the Garden?
Do you have the courage to ignore the Adversary's temptations and turn back into the Kingdom?
No matter your mechanism for dealing with your pain and the state of your life, you will get absolutely no place until you understand why your life is as it is.