What Is The World's Biggest Problem?

  Serious questions often have simple answers. Such is the case with the question posed here--what is the world's biggest problem? If you were to ask a children's Sunday School class, it would not take long for someone to give the correct answer--sin. This we can take further to find that sin afflicts the world particularly through the propagation of lies.  Lies are the problem. Next we ask what the solution is, and we see that truth is the solution. After analyzing mankind's situation, we come to understand that the way to solve this problem and promote the solution is to live lives of truth. Such premises do indeed appear simple, and we could probably have learned them from the lips of our little friends in Sunday School. However, the realities behind these statements are grave and vital if we wish to ever make a difference in our world for the better.



  The specific manner in which sin plagues the world is through lies. No deep digging is necessary to find an example. Take what is perhaps the most crucial issue of our culture today--abortion. At the root of the cold-blooded genocide of the smallest, weakest link in our society is greed and hatred. But, in regards to greed, whatever may be gained by these vile acts is temporary, ephemeral, an illusion, a lie. More frightening is the state of those who are motivated by hatred, for their entire lives are saturated with the lie that evil is good and that somehow it will triumph over the righteousness of Christ. Abortion is just one example, though the reasoning behind it shapes an archetype for the motives of every other sin. Greed, lust, hatred, oppression--all are based on lies that lead to the misery of mankind.



  Truth is the solution we have to offer against the problem of sin. Truth will not make everyone happy--it may not cure diseases, give fathers to orphans, or erase the pain of widows. What it will do is point suffering people to an altogether satisfying knowledge of a loving, magnificent, holy God who cares for the needs of His people. It will make wise the simple, convicting and correcting the sinner who is lost in his destructive ways. This truth is eternal and unchanging and the antidote to the sickness of our hearts. Jesus Christ, the truth of God, is salvation from sin. He is bread and water for starving, depraved souls.



  The noblest, most influential, most difficult goal one can set is to live a life of truth. This includes daily submersion in the Bible as our most reliable source of truth. Search diligently, do not cease to knock, ask again and again, and God will not turn you away empty-handed. The next step is to faithfully and prayerfully apply these teachings to your life. Walk with the truth implanted in your soul. Let the word of God be a motive behind all your actions. Speak truth into others' lives--cut off flattering lips, boldly uphold and defend righteousness, do not be afraid to call out evil for what it is. In these ways I personally strive to solve the world's biggest problem. And when I fail--for I certainly do, repeatedly--the most truthful thing I can do is to trust in the sacrificial blood of Jesus Christ who died to take away my guilt and shame. Such truthful living will shine into a dark, twisted world. God will use that light to set others free from the lies of sin.



  Simple answers are often the most powerful--Jesus did not diminish the precious value of His wisdom when He said that it had been revealed to babes and hidden from the learned. It is our duty and joy to war against sin by seeking out His simple, beautiful truth. He alone can change us into a truthful people. Then, by His gracious and merciful power, He will use us to change the world in which we live, making it not only a better place, but an earth resounding with the infinite glory of our Lord God and Savior.

Poetry Of The Normal

I can't do this. I can't see it. I can't feel it. I can't, I can't, I can't. 

I'm wasting away my life. What am I standing on? What am I even standing for?

I'm lost, empty, and frustrated. I just want to run away...

Maybe I Should Fall In Love...

Sometimes, when I stumble upon someone I could consider falling in love with, I think to myself—

However deep that love might be, still deeper is the love with which God loves us.

However sweet and satisfying that love might be, ever more so are the pleasures of Christ.

And sometimes I conclude—I would rather fall in love with Him. 

So I suppose the right love is one that encourages/leads me to love Him more. 

Here's hoping&praying&longing...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On a side note, I noticed that most of my output into the world is short, pathetic, cheesy jargon strung together by a cord of vain pride and almost-good intentions. My need for sanctification and cleansing through the blood of Christ becomes more apparent everyday.

A Favorite

A Psalm For Life by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

What The Heart Of The Young Man Said To The Psalmist.

Tell me not, in mournful numbers, 

   Life is but an empty dream! 

For the soul is dead that slumbers, 

   And things are not what they seem. 

Life is real! Life is earnest! 

   And the grave is not its goal; 

Dust thou art, to dust returnest, 

   Was not spoken of the soul. 

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow, 

   Is our destined end or way; 

But to act, that each to-morrow 

   Find us farther than to-day. 

Art is long, and Time is fleeting, 

   And our hearts, though stout and brave, 

Still, like muffled drums, are beating 

   Funeral marches to the grave. 

In the world’s broad field of battle, 

   In the bivouac of Life, 

Be not like dumb, driven cattle! 

   Be a hero in the strife! 

Trust no Future, howe’er pleasant! 

   Let the dead Past bury its dead! 

Act,— act in the living Present! 

   Heart within, and God o’erhead! 

Lives of great men all remind us 

   We can make our lives sublime, 

And, departing, leave behind us 

   Footprints on the sands of time; 

Footprints, that perhaps another, 

   Sailing o’er life’s solemn main, 

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother, 

   Seeing, shall take heart again. 

Let us, then, be up and doing, 

   With a heart for any fate.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

feed your soul

Honest Love

What will happen when my heart breaks...again?

Next time my heart will break deeper. Such is life. It may not break in the same way as before, but in a newly excruciating manner. What wounds may have healed over will tear open in a fiery pain that reaches beyond the old. Deeper, wider, fuller. 

Will everything that has broken my heart before never break my heart again?

Everything that has broken my heart before will settle into the cracks it once made—boring down, as water carves away rock. So the stone in my chest dwindles.

Is there anything I can do to keep my heart from breaking?

My heart will break so long as I love anything. But the heart is made for loving. Therefore, my heart can break so long as it is beating. 

Do You See What I See?

       This week in class, I learned that the earth revolves around the sun, which is the center of a solar
 system. Ours is the only system which is constantly on one limb of the ever-turning Milky Way galaxy, one of thousands upon thousands of others in the known universe. I saw the glory of God in the remains of a star which died possibly thousands of years ago--yeah, it's still shining. It was amusing--the funny theories little men have come up with, postulating about causes and reactions, all just guesses at what has been set in the eternal mind of God as effortlessly as the wind would carry a feather. Learning about His creation and genius in stars was intimate and thrilling, just like falling in love--with the pulling of my heart and knot in my throat, without the accompanying fear. Just awe-struck love.

       You know what star is my favorite?


My star. Because it is mine. Because it gave light to the rose in my garden, which grew and grew, that was tamed and tamed. And... "You are responsible...forever...for what you tame." 

Do you see it? Please... Please see it.

Romanticism

Remember when our lives were a fairytale? When joy was just simple, so pure?

I miss that old mindset. I wonder sometimes if it'd be okay to take it back.