I will put pornography, prostitution and human trafficking together in one as they are all so closely intertwined. The disgusting fact is that a large part of our society gets pleasure sexually at the expense of others. We can kid ourselves by hovering on the fringe of this industry where it can be passed off as legitimate and consenting but the fact is that even the most "innocent" and consensual of pornographic media condones the deepest, darkest corners of these industries. We are entertained at the expense of others through the piracy of music and movies. We love the art these artists are creating enough to have it, just not enough to pay for it. We love to have things that we didn't need to work for. This fact also fuels the lottery and gambling industry (legal or otherwise). They offer us the opportunity to get rich quick. Just give them your money and pick some numbers or a sports team and you may just be the next big winner. Not winning at life? That's fine. The bank or credit company will give us a card to buy things we really can't afford so that we can at least look the part. We put on our masks of Gucci, BMW, Cartier...still can't afford all of these brands with our impressive credit limits and mortgages? Here enters another growing industry - counterfeiting. It doesn't have to be expensive, it just has to look like it was.
The heartbreaking thing is that, even with all of the pleasures we take and treasures that we accumulate, so many of us turn to ways of survival or escape. Illegal drugs are a massive industry fueled by addiction but ignited by emptiness. What starts as a break from life turns into a way of life. Cocaine is smuggled into the states at a staggering rate. Marijuana is so common that it may very well be the next thing to be nationally legalized. I can't stop at illegal drugs. We legally allow the sale and consumption of alcohol and cigarettes, both highly addictive and with proven long term negative effects on health. Why? If we can't stop the use of such substances then at least we can control them and tax their use. How about the more subtle addictions? Caffeine, sugar, food, work, beauty, attention...
WHAT. A. MESS.
What can save us from this downward spiral of inward thinking and destructive selfishness? The answer is not what but who! Jesus is the only answer, the only way. You see, as we continually fight for equality, many of us fail to see that we are all equal. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). That goes for the man trafficking girls to pad his wallet, the two men engaging in sexual relations with eachother, the man down the street cooking a steak on his bbq and the pastor in his office writing his sermon for the next Sunday.
Getting back to the news of the day, the fact is that to this world marriage is a contract between two equal people regardless of gender. That is the worldly definition of a legal marriage. It was passed by the same legal system that allows the sexual exploitation of the human body for pleasure and financial gains. This is the same legal system that allows the sale of harmful substances to adults because they are only hurting themselves. This is the same legal system that allows people with addictions to ruin themselves financially at the lotto booth because it funds government shortfalls or hospital drives. The eyes of this world are so collectively off of God that we are drowning in a lifestyle of "me first".
This is backwards from the commandment that Jesus claimed as the greatest. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: you shall love your neighbour as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 23:37-40). Now, I can hear the voices rising up..."See?!? Jesus taught love. Love everything, love everyone!" Hold on a second. Jesus' definition of love is very different than our world's definition. If you want to understand Jesus' stance on love you must read of how he talked about it to his disciples.
"As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love. Just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. You are my friends if you do whatever I command you" (John 15:9-14). Jesus did lay down His life for us in the ultimate display of love. He did not do it so that we can keep on living a life permeated in sin! The Jesus that laid down His life is the same Jesus who preached and said,"Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (Matthew 4:17). He started and finished His earthly ministry with this message. "He said to them, 'Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem'" (Luke 24:46-47).
We are quick to preach the love of Jesus but we shy away from the importance He placed on the identification, confession and repentance of sin. It is not popular, it is not comfortable, but it is necessary. The world loves the Jesus that hung out with sinners but it hates the Jesus that saw them changed through repentance. This is what our society needs now more than ever. Not just those that are too often targeted and identified as sinners but the whole lot of us, every last one. As I watch us step further and further away from a lifestyle of repentance and submission to God, I am reminded of something Jesus shared: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!" (Matthew 23:37)
So, to the person reading this, no matter where you find yourself in life, I say that this is not about hating on you because of your sin. I have it too. This is about the lamentation of a grieving Saviour who loves you so much and is just longing to embrace you if only you would turn to Him. Only He can offer true joy and a lasting peace. The world has pursued it and continues still, and yet it has never been found lasting outside of Him.
As I look at this world I think:
WHAT. A. MESS.
But I also see:
WHAT. A. MESSIAH.
Turn to Him and you will see too.
With love,
Mike
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