As a pastor, I’m often called upon to listen to explicit stories of lives made shipwreck by merciless waves of unfortunate circumstances. The question generally follows, “What do you think I should do?” Many times, before I am able to form the first word of response, I learn that I am only one of many, whose advice is being sought. Though often my efforts prove futile, I generally add my comments to the collection of remedies being tabulated.
It has become obvious to me that our multicultural, multilingual, multipurpose age has produced a society without a standard for measuring truth. By standard, I mean a collection of proven and accepted facts, by which everyone answers life’s hard questions and deals with its problems.
I’m sure that you have noticed how we have departed from the moral, spiritual, social and political absolutes that made our nation great. Ours is a day of moral relativism; everybody decides for themselves what is right or wrong, what works or doesn’t. With everyone using a different yardstick, is there any wonder that we are so diverse and riddled with problems? If we could only be united in our defining of right and wrong, perhaps life could improve in substantive ways for the masses.
Just to put your mind at ease, I confess that my standard is no better than yours, or anyone else’s. As a matter of fact, I’m sure that the elements of truth that are needed to insure success in every situation and in every walk of life, will not be the contrivances of men, but of God.
If you are interested in discovering ways that work, you should take a look at the absolutes of the Bible. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12).”
It would be a privilege to help you find God’s solution to your problems from His miraculous book, the Bible. You have to start somewhere.