When we see a major event–for example, the Arab Spring revolts in North Africa–we are tempted to think that something dramatic is going to change. Sometimes we think of these events as “solutions” for nebulous “problems.” We think, “Ah ha–now they’ve had a revolution, and everything is going to be okay.” Often “everything is going to be okay” is a nebulous code for “now they will be like us, we will all get along, our lives will be better, and we won’t have to think about them any more.”
The reality is: every trend line can be corrupted. It can be co-opted, taken over, twisted, spun, changed, revolted against.
The real battle in our world is not Islam vs. the West. It is not governments vs. terrorists. It is not freedom vs. tyranny. It is not crime vs. justice.
The real battle in our world is sin vs. holiness. It is the ungodly in revolt against God.
Revolutions will not solve this battle. Justice will not solve this battle. Peacemaking and doctoring and educating and liberating will not solve this battle. Eventually, everything we “solve” will become corrupt again.
I am not saying we should stand up for the oppressed, because obviously we should. Nor should we cease to stand against crime, because we should. I absolutely believe in social justice, in education, in healing, and in all those kinds of things.
But if you don’t address the real battle–by leading people to God, by seeing God revealed to them, by seeing people become followers of Christ, by teaching people to obey everything Christ commanded–then eventually, what you do today, you’ll just have to do over again in some future “tomorrow.”
We need solutions that address needs today but at the same time reveal God and lead people to Him, so that the real battle is won.
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