It seems that lately our society cannot find much on which to agree. People are at odds with one another over seemingly EVERYTHING. But there is at least one thing we all have in common: We all think that our world is messed up and needs to be fixed. What that fix should look like is a major point of our disagreements, though.

We turn to many things to fix our world. We look to acquiring more knowledge, advancing medical technology, solving economic woes, or selecting the right political leader. Would any of those would really provide the solution? Let’s explore.

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Knowledge

With the Internet, a world full of information is available at our fingertips. Type in any search criteria, any at all ¹, and we get thousands of instant responses. Education is available to anyone who is willing to put in the effort, at least in developed nations.

There are still far too many places, though, where poverty, violence, or corruption make survival a priority over knowledge. And even where choices are available, willful ignorance still abounds. There are many who simply don’t want to learn; they would rather stick with only what they already know (or think they know).

Would curing ignorance fix the world’s problems? If some researcher could learn everything there is to know, and some educator could impart that knowledge to everyone in the world, would that make everything OK?

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Medicine

When I hear of someone with a devastating illness, I am aware of two opposing points: We have an amazing amount of medical knowledge and technology, but it still is not enough.

We have diagnostic tests that can measure everything swimming in our bloodstreams. We can look inside bones and brains without even getting undressed. We have simple over-the-counter drugs in our home medicine cabinets that would have been considered magic a hundred years ago.

But we still can’t understand or cure all illnesses. Within the past month, I’ve lost a loved one to dementia. What happened in her brain? What caused the damage? How could it have been prevented? No one knows, just as no one was able to provide any treatment to reverse that damage ². The Muscular Dystrophy Association has a long list of diseases they are researching, many of them incurable. So do the American Heart Association, the American Stroke Association, and the Multiple Sclerosis Association. There are also Huntington’s Disease, auto-immune diseases like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis, cystic fibrosis, and many others.

Would finding cures for all existing diseases fix our world? Better yet, if we could learn how to prevent all illness, would we have everything we need?

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Economics

I mentioned places where poverty crowds out education. Poor economic conditions are also blamed for many other of the world’s ills. Those who grow up without enough to eat or without proper clothing and shelter can easily turn to crime as a way of acquiring those things, or to drugs and alcohol as a way to escape the misery.

Different approaches to solving this issue have been tried. Capitalism, based on the premise of exchanging goods — whether physical products, service, knowledge, or money — as determined by negotiation between the parties involved, is one approach. Socialism, based on the premise that a central government should control all goods and distribute them to everyone equally, is another. Both of these have been tried, with results available to see by reviewing their history. Poverty still exists, however.

If a perfect economic system were to be put into place, would that make the world right? If everyone had plenty of resources for their livelihood, would we all be satisfied?

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Politics

Implementing better educational opportunities, researching cures for disease, and developing good economic plans all require leadership. There are plenty of people asking us to follow them, and to allow them to make the decisions that affect our lives. It takes…oh, maybe 5 seconds…of any news program or website to see the tendency to expect that politics and the right politician are the answer.

If cities, states and countries were to pick the perfect leader(s), would those leaders be able to provide everything the world needs? ³

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We Need More

Educator, Researcher, Economist, Politician…. God could have sent any of those to fix His broken world. He didn’t. He knew that even if we were perfectly educated, completely healthy, with plenty of resources managed under the best of leaders, we would still be broken. That’s because we would still be sinners, still rebellious and alienated from God, no matter how exceptional our circumstances.

Instead of any of the above, God chose to send a Savior. Actually, He chose to become our Savior. What we need more than anything else is a reconciled relationship with our Creator. That is something that none of us can accomplish. The one solution the world needs is beyond our capability, so God provided it for us. He offers it as a free gift at no expense to us, but at infinitely high cost to Himself.

Once we choose to accept that restored relationship, we have everything we need to be OK even while the world remains broken. Then, we can look forward to the future, where the kingdom He is building will be completely established. We will live in the constant Light of the ultimate Teacher, Healer, Counselor, and King!

1. I learned this lesson a few years ago. I found an unidentifiable animal dropping in our basement. I had seen a frog there a few days earlier, and wondered if he was the one who left the “gift”. I searched for “frog droppings” and got more information than I ever wanted to know!
2. I will be eternally grateful for the medical interventions that were able to provide some mitigation and relief, however temporary it had to be.
3. Spoiler: The Bible tells us what will happen with one all-powerful leader. It ain’t pretty!