It is me. And let’s face it, its you too. We are the problem. I am as bad as any one else at pointing the finger at the government (or governments since I get the joy of dealing with several) or corporate business or politics or religion and punting my responsibilities. But the real problem is me . . . and you. There is something broken in us that prevents us from taking responsibility for our actions. Something broken that makes doing right really tough. Something so broken that doing wrong seems natural and automatic, but that is also the problem within itself.
That it is about . . . me. All the time, every day, each hour, every conversation, every strategy at play, all the public masks, each stroke of emotion, is almost always about me. As one author commented, “I spend 95% of my time thinking about me.” “ . . . the problem in the universe lives within me.” Ouch that hurts . . . especially since its true . . . I am the problem. There is something corrupt and damaged inside . . . and I am not saying this to give myself permission to be bad or act in unrighteousness. It is much more a simple admission of reality, that my depths of depravity know no limits.
Many Westerners who come and visit this war-torn corner of the world shake their heads in disbelief that people can send young girls to rape camps, and can force 1000’s of boys and men into a hole in the ground and then execute them, and can burn people’s houses with them and their children inside and all the other atrocities committed in the Balkans over the last 950 years or so (although all the things I actually listed here happened in the last 10-11 years).
But after living here for the last 7 years, I don’t think there is any difference between me and them. None at all. I am capable of doing all that and worse. As Miller points out, it’s not that we are somehow better or above such actions, it is much much more that we civilized Westerners live in a world of checks and balances and we will get caught and we will be punished. “But that does not make us good people, it only makes us subdued.” In other words we don’t have freedom in the West as much as we have checks and balances . . . someone is watching us all the time and the judicial system in general will make you pay for your actions.
You want to know what is the problem with the universe? Go look in the mirror, the answer is there.
Yet there is hope. I need hope, don’t know about you, but I need hope. Real genuine scarred-hands of hope. Jesus died for me so that I do not have to stay broken and corrupt and vicious. I can be something more. In fact, it is that wanting to be something more than this animal of perversion, that drives us to God. We need something outside of ourselves to repair us, rebuild us and make us whole once again. We sense that this is possible, and we want it, each and everyone of us. Best of all it is priceless . . . yet free.
2 comments:
Well, I just had to respond to this post. In one sense I agree, but I think I would broaden the problem with the universe to be sin. That sin is in me for sure. It's in everyone. But it's also systemic. Some systems do promote or allow more sin than others, as you have pointed out. Those systems which are unjust and do not provide checks on the sin nature of individuals are a part of the problem with the universe. I think fighting against unjust systems should be a part of the struggle "against rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms."
Well said, Steiners! Sin can be systemic, and sin is the very reason America’s government was set up with a system of checks and balances—because our founders understood that man has a sin nature which must be kept in check. The U.S. Constitution and our entire system of law were designed to put limits on the evil that men can do to one another, and more specifically, the evil that governments can do. Yet even the best and most enlightened judicial/governmental system will fail to protect citizens from evil if the people themselves embrace evil and reject the God who gave us the institution of government in the first place. As people become more prone to sin, the entire system will degenerate.
And thanks Dr. D. for reminding us that there is hope and that we as individuals do not have to remain broken and corrupt and vicious, and neither do our societies and cultures. As we surrender to Christ's Lordship and He rebuilds us and makes us whole, may we also rebuild and heal the sick societies and corrupt systems in which we live.
Post a Comment