Something’s wrong in the world. This is a fact no one can deny. Everywhere we look things are spiraling out of control. Poverty and famine claim many young lives before they are given a chance to begin. War looms on every horizon. Sickness keeps the hospitals full. The human population is crippled by murder, theft, betrayal, slander, hatred, and greed. Something’s missing. We are haunted by a feeling that this is not the way it’s supposed to be.
If we were animals, if God had not created us in his own image, we might be able to adjust. We could adapt to moral atrocity and learn to survive. But as the wise man says, God has put eternity into man’s heart (Ecc. 3:11). Try as we may to ignore it, all of us are confronted with a troubling sense of spiritual unease. Although this feeling is universal, we deal with it in different ways, three in particular.
Some choose to worry. Instead of turning to God for help, they assume that spiritual unrest is their responsibility. Man, however, is completely helpless on his own in this struggle. The result of trying to assume responsibility for your own condition, then, is an anxious, futile struggle.
On the opposite end of the spectrum from worry is indifference. Instead of trying to take responsibility for their spiritual condition, some people choose not to think about it. Worry and indifference are similar in that both approaches accomplish nothing, but indifference is worse because worriers at least care that their souls are in turmoil. When you care there is at least a chance that you will come around in the end. Those who are indifferent do not care about what’s most important in their lives. As a result they find themselves in a rut headed for destruction. “Nothing matters to the man who says nothing matters,” says Lin Yutang. This is why Jesus could eat with sinners and forgive prostitutes but spit lukewarm Christians out of his mouth (Rev. 3:15-17).
There is really only one way to deal effectively with the void that is in our souls: faith. Unlike indifference, faith responds to the reality of our despair, and unlike worry it believes there is hope. Those who live by faith know they cannot save themselves. They trust God to fill the vacuum in their lives created by sin and restore them to the peace they are meant to have. Faith in Christ is the only way. John says, “And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 Jn. 5:4-5).
True faith produces obedience. When a person believes Jesus is the Son of God and that the cross is our only hope, he is going to follow Christ’s commands. This is why John the Baptist contrasted belief and disobedience, saying, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (Jn. 3:36).
We cannot ignore the deepest needs of the soul. Indifference is fruitless and worry makes us miserable. God saves people through faith. Have you believed?