If there is one thing that has been confirmed in our current culture it is this… humanity is fallen. It is quite hard to imagine that there are many who still hold to the idea that humanity is basically good. However, that continues to be the popular viewpoint in our day despite what we see daily before us and what we know to be true about us. It took no time at all this year, 2020, to expose the heart of humanity and its fallen state. We are not basically good!
Furthermore, contrary to popular belief, we are not getting better. On the one hand, we continue to make amazing societal and practical advancements. While on the other hand, we have proved that an equal advancement in morality and ethics continues to evade us. In fact, the current moral state of things shows us we are in a rapid and consistent decline.
In truth, nothing has changed in the brief history of humanity. What’s worse, we are incapable of fixing our predicament. Culture is powerless to save ourselves from ourselves. Fallen man needs a better Savior. Contrary to what popular society thinks, salvation will most certainly not be found in a vaccine, a stimulus check, or a defunded police department.
Diagnosing the Problem
If we miss diagnose our greatest problem we will naturally mistakenly prescribe the impotent solution. Sin, not a pandemic, isolates people from God and from one another. Therefore, our greatest problem is not finding a vaccine to a pandemic. Rather, it is finding our way in a culture where human selfishness is king and pride is his queen. What’s the result of this deadly duo? We further isolate and cut off everyone around us. This is done through clever memes, social media posts, endless rambling, not listening to each other, and outbursts of anger. (Side note: We ought not miss the irony for what social media was created for and what it has become!)
And… I get it…! The pressure that 2020 has created is unique all its own. The daily news, for most, is a regular opportunity to have one’s stomach tied up in a knot. Fear and anxiety are the king and queen’s prince and princess.
But, for the people of God, the bride of Christ, the redeemed in Jesus… ours is to be a profoundly different response. The Bible believing, Gospel trusting, God fearing man or woman is a different creature all together. While we might live in this world, we are not of this world (John 17:14-16). Therefore, our response to the current events ought to look profoundly different than what we see from those who are not in Christ.
The Christ follower has been made new in Christ. We have a better Savior; one who offers us not only life, but eternal life. According to Peter, we are people who have an unfading hope of glory which resides right in the middle of the turmoil.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory….
1 Peter 1:3-8
The Only Solution
Jesus, not a vaccine is what saves fallen humanity. Peaceful protests are fine. The need for a vaccine can and ought to be debated. But… recognize that nothing in this world is effectual to save us from our greatest problem. Society needs something more than a vaccine, it needs a Savior! We need something more than the tearing down of statues, we need a living Savior. Jesus is the only solution to the ills of society. This is the good news, Christ came to die for our sins. He came and dealt the death blow to our greatest problem… sin!
Christ Died To Provide A Better Salvation
Christ did not live and die to simply provide for us a good example to follow. Nor did he come to be a moral teacher for us to imitate. He is more than one of many, in a long list of amazing world leaders. Rather, Jesus came to die for sinners. He is one of a kind because… He is God who took on flesh to die. His death paid the penalty for sinners like you and me. Friends, we need Jesus in the midst of the pandemic and the racism that surrounds us and lives in us! We need the forgiveness that only His death provides. He is the only Savior of the world! This is the hope of all believers, everywhere. It is hope for the persecuted church in China and it was the hope for the Christian living in the days of the Black Plague, and it is the hope for you and me! Jesus Christ saves sinners!
Not Of This World
Christian, you are not of this world. Therefore, we are not to be conformed to the ways or the wisdom of this world. We have been transformed by Christ. (Romans 12:1-2). You are a new creature in Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:17).
We all need to spend a few moments asking ourselves if we are being lulled into being transformed by the world rather than a vessel of transformation to the world. How have you begun to place your hope in a false savior? Simply put, Christian, we have a better Savior, we have a better hope that this world desperately needs. When we look, act, and speak like the world, we are forgetting our salvation and who we are in Christ. The world doesn’t need us to add our angry voices to societies problems. The world needs to engage us and find that we are offering a different hope and a better salvation.
What a great time to be alive!
Let’s be Christians in this world. What a great time to be alive, serving Christ! What a joy to be among those who are seeking to love God with all that we are, and love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:37). While many are waiting around for all this mess to pass us by, the Christian needs to prayerfully engage a hurting and confused world. In so many ways, so much has changed. And yet, nothing has really changed for the follower of Christ. We are still called by God to be a light to this world that is in desperate need of Him.
Thank you for putting this truth squarely before us. You put into words what I firmly ascribe to but am unable to write with the clarity you provide.