23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God – Romans 3:23
After years of Christian study, I find no sufficient reason for why God allows such evil to thrive in this world. Every answer and hypothesis shared by pulpit and page have only led to more seemingly dead ends. While every era is ripe with tragedy, it seems currently we live with unwavering heartbreak. The amount of information and headlines bombard us with tragedy at every level. Even when we do not seek it out, it finds us.
Of course, we are all shaped by our experience. The journey I am currently on has found me with a new son and broken church experience. This undoubtedly paints my theological mind and makes me more sensitive to those in pain. This also provides me with more urgency in understanding such evil. It has led me to a more practical, more desperate faith. I lean on Jesus because, in the end, if there is to be any hope in this world, it lay at His feet. All I know to do is to rest in the crucifixion and hope in the resurrection. While there is ample evidence in His existence and work – enough to carry even the heaviest of doubts – we live a faith that can never be proven. Faith, after all, is a leap into the void of reason and logic.
One thing that evil has done is to show me a truer reflection of myself. I alarmingly admit that I recognize myself in the face of such evil more than I wish. The seed of it’s expanded reach lay ever present in my own soul. As a sinner in recovery, I am one decision away from embodying the same evil that breaks my battered heart. Sin is personal and always near.
So what is to be our response to this?
Do we ignore or engage unblinkingly?
For the last few months I have wrestled with this. There is a growing tension between being informed and staying sane in this current age. I have cut out social media substantially and turned off my phone during most of the day. The benefits of this have been rewarding. I have found myself more attached to reality, even if I miss current news and life events of friends (sorry if I missed a birthday or the birth of your child). In an unexpected way, this approach has helped me to attach to the world more than to disengage. I originally feared that I was simply ignoring the evil of the world and wrongly burying my head in the sand. The faith that comes from this approach is rampant, and I would rather be a informed sinner than a saint in denial.
The truth is, one doesn’t have to go past their front door to experience the brokenness of this world. It is present, alarming, and suffocating. And while I still have no satisfying answer to the ways of God and suspect I never will this side of heaven, I do choose to believe He is not detached from such evil. I choose to believe that His heart breaks anew with each senseless tragedy.
In the cross, there is acknowledgment
In the resurrection, there is hope
Jesus come
Matt simon blog 