Articles
Let Us Show Them
Are you someone who wants the "wrongs" of this life to be "righted"?
I'm one of those people who always wants to "fix" things. I don't know why, but when I'm aware of something that is just wrong, I'm one who wants the record set straight. It may not change the overall situation, but I don't like evil winning. But who am I to do anything?
God wants His children to do things right the first time, being honest and showing integrity. While I can't live up to that perfectly, perhaps it is what drives my desire to see worldly wrongs get fixed. I like it when I hear about dishonesty being brought to light, and when justice wins the day. I hope that's OK. God tells us not to rejoice when our enemy gets what's coming to them, so we have to be careful and keep our attitude in check. But there is plenty of room to rejoice when righteousness wins over evil. That's what we fight for every day as Christians.
But are there things we can do to help fix some of what is wrong in our world, and not just sit on the sidelines and watch? Certainly!
We can set an example of honesty and self control and we can share Jesus with the world. When people live for Him and stop living for themselves, they turn away from self indulgence and from serving only themselves, and start loving others and considering other people and how it all fits together. In the brotherhood of believers, we are told to look out for each other, helping the weak and protecting each other from Satan and his forces of evil.
We can do the same in the world with non-believers. Any day we beat Satan at his own game, we have done well. We can practice what we preach, and we can preach those things in life that make us better people, and help us not be so self centered. Thing like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control. The Apostle Paul calls these things the "fruit" of the Spirit. (Gal 5:22-23)
If we want the world to be more loving, we need to show more love. If we want them to be more kind, we need to extend more kindness. If we want more self control by other people, we need to show them more self control in our lives, and be involved in their's to help them too. What we do that is witnessed by others especially in our own families and those we associate with on a daily basis, definitely affects the behavior of others. The more of these qualities we exhibit, the more we can help them spread into the lives of others.
Jesus said a good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Maybe if our world would spend more time planting the seed to grow good trees, we could cut down on the amount of bad trees out there that can't produce good fruit. As we share Jesus with the world, the most important thing is indeed that He is the one and only Savior of mankind from a fiery Hell. But following Him is also about a good life in the here and now, during our time walking this earth.
God will ultimately right every wrong that has ever been committed. He will either pardon them, through the blood of Christ for those who are in Christ, or He will punish man for them, just as He has promised. We can't right every wrong, that's reserved for God. But He certainly gives us the tools to live a good life, share that life with others, and help to fix some of the problems in this world.
