It’s a desperately wicked world out there. Here’s what we can do about it …

Being both a minister and a clinical counselor often leads to some interesting conversations. Among them are reactions to events such as today’s tragic shooting at an elementary school in Connecticut. A common response to such a horrific flurry of terror is, “The man who did that must be sick!“

That comment is often made to appeal to my counseling hat.

In this case, wrong hat.

The people who carry out such destruction in this world often are not mentally ill. The problem isn’t that they’re sick, the problem is sin.

Sin has always wreaked havoc and brought death, and our sin often spreads to the destruction of others. Many people contain that to a “softer” destruction … gossiping about others, judging others, manipulating others, speaking harshly to others, harboring resentments toward others, and so on — and some with lesser moral restraint pick up weapons and bludgeon others.

Social media is already teeming with the paradoxical calls for prayer and gun control, for the peace of Christ and for his quick return, and with exhortations to hug your children and be close to them today. One pastor posted this on Facebook:

This broken world needs more than just a little more of Jesus; let’s expand that thought to something that can provide the needed difference. If you’re really tired of such dramatically destructive sin ravaging this world, do something about it by striving to introduce every non-Christian you know to Jesus Christ. Humankind’s capacity for any level of moral restraint routinely fails. To restore the world to God’s original design, people must be transformed, and that kind of change can come only through Jesus Christ.

“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” Jeremiah 17:9.

Praying for, caring for, and consoling the hurting is the right compassionate thing to do initially during troubled times. But it is not enough. To bring deep change into this world, we must bring Christ to those who don’t know Him.

You can contribute to bringing real help and wholeness to individuals, marriages, whole families and communities by committing yourself to the reconciling of people to peace with God …

“18 And
all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through
Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. 19 For
God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting
people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of
reconciliation. 20 So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, ‘Come back to God!’ 21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ,” 2 Corinthians 5:18-21.

When people are right with God, they live right. When people are at peace with God, they practice that peace. When people are free from sin, they strive for righteousness and true holiness. Imagine how different this world could be if we worked together to help everyone we can to know this peace with God.

Let’s start today.

Scotty