Comfortable Lies

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If there is a loving God, why would he allow _____?  I used to be one of the people that asked that question.  I used to look at the world and swear I would never bring children into it, that I would never believe in a God that allowed such evil to take place.  

Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who helped shed light on the evils of communist Russia, said, "We do not err because truth is difficult to see. It is visible at a glance. We err because this is more comfortable."  

Blaming God for all the evil in the world was much more comfortable than placing blame on myself and my fellow humans.   Besides, I could not fathom that my menial wrongs had any affect at all on the greater good.  

I denied absolute truth because it was easier to live by my own set of rules that changed as quickly as my circumstances changed.  

Society has done the same and in the process, thrown the baby out with the bath water -- God doesn't exist, therefore, truth and wisdom were never written.  The world spirals into a cesspool of chaos and confusion because each individual writes their own bible. We've become our own mini-gods; fickle gods that determine right from wrong based on how we're feeling on any given day. 

In this game of absolute truth denial, Hitler's beliefs are as valid as Mother Teresa's. 

We convince ourselves that humanity is basically good no matter what some old book says. We watch the news and assure ourselves we have nothing in common with the evil we see, even as we leave our wives, husbands, and children because something we percieve as better comes along.  

We deny our hearts are deceitful even as we throw the finger up to someone that cuts us off on the highway.  We declare our goodness as we cuss the teacher or policeman doing their job.  

We lie, cheat and steal and believe we should be exempt from the consequences because ____.  We make unwise choices thoroughly convinced society as whole should pay for them.  We slander and gossip about people we hate and people we love.  

We get the job we were hopeful for and then grumble about our employer.  We complain about that weekly pay check that is exactly the agreed upon amount. We teach our children to do unto others what has been done to them. We tear others down to build ourselves up. We are so pride-filled, we hate anyone that would criticize our play book.  

One day I finally realized my self-authored play book was failing me. I humbled myself and cried out to God. Thankfully, He was faithful and just to respond.  However, that response showed me that I was the evil I saw in the world.  

The self-examination he led me to, revealed that even on my best days, my motives were not for the good of others, but for self. The set of rules I played by fluctuated depending on how others treated me.   

Christ showed me that the majority of our strivings and on this earth are nothing more than an attempt to get what we want - our dreams, our desires, our fantasies, our comfort. We reach out and help others if we happen to stumble over them on our journey -- but even then they better not ask too much of us, because that makes us uncomfortable. 

We are simply not worthy to write the rule book.

To willfully and purposefully examine our motives, recognize the deceit that is in us, and choose the good of others over self  is hardly the crutch that some claim it to be.  It is a difficult, sometimes brutal journey that leads to a cross on a hill in Jerusalem.

Difficult as the journey is, it is a worthwhile trip to forgiveness and redemption.  It leads to peace and a new lifestyle that the offerings of this world cannot begin to touch.  It leads to Truth.

I no longer ask why God allows the evil, because I understand that the evil is us.  I now ask why He went willfully to that cross for a people that rejected him and condemned Him to a unspeakably horrible death.  

Love is the answer, His word says, love for a creature that he blessed with free will.  The free will to make the choice he gives us still -- to accept or reject the chance to live with Him playing by his rules. Even as we deny, mock and  kill Him He offers us life -- and the offer is for whosoever will.


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