Looking for a quick fix
Jacob
problems, whether they have to do with finances, marriage, kids, job
or anything. But most of them are looking for some quick fix by which
their problem situation will change for the better. This is natural,
and this is usually the first approach we try. And there are many out
there who seem to offer such fixes for a price. Preachers talking
about the financial crisis have one quick remedy--give your seed money
and see how God multiplies it! How many preachers have you heard
telling the audience that they would need to tighten their belts,
change their spending habits, downsize their pleasure targets, plan
for saving schemes, etc.?
When couples come for marriage counselling they expect the counsellor
to give a recipe that will--presto!--send them back beaming with
smiles. They don't expect to be asked to make changes in their
attitudes and behaviour. When they hear about change, they want the
counsellor to change their spouse!
Why do we take this approach? It is because 1) it is very painful to
acknowledge that we are in the current mess because we have done
things wrong, 2) it is difficult to make changes to the patterns that
we have developed over the years. But like a scientist said, we can't
repeat an experiment in exactly the same way as we have done before
and expect different results! We have to change our attitudes and walk
in paths we have not travelled before, if we want better lives in the
future.
Jesus said that if we wanted to learn from Him and become like Him--to
become His disciple--we need to take up our cross, deny ourselves and
follow Him (Lk.9:23;14:27). Our cross--contrary to common
understanding--is not this person who troubles us or the unbearable
situation, but an attitude in which we are willing to die to our own
likes, preferences, choices, etc., in order to do the will of God
which is far better. When we take up this cross and deny ourselves, we
become Jesus' disciples and start learning from Him and doing His
will. But if we are waiting for the other person or our situation to
change, we will be waiting and waiting as things get worse and worse!
Who has been affected by sin? Not just all those gross and crude
sinners out there, but all of us. We are all blind to our own faults
even though quick to notice those of others. But at least when we reap
the unpleasant fruits of what we have sown in the past (Ga.6:7),
shouldn't we wake up and admit that there must be things we have done
wrong? Then we can see what we can do about them now.
There are many things we can change and should change. But then there
are also things in the past that cannot be undone. What God expects us
to do then is to at least acknowledge that we are only reaping what we
have sown (Je.3:13). Isn't this what the repentant criminal on the
cross did (Lk.23:40,41)? If we take that position, God will also give
us grace that can change the situation.