What's the Answer?

 Paul hurried through the dimly lit parking lot as he made his way to his car. Before he could react, a young man stepped out in front of him with a hand gun pointed directly at him. The young man nervously told Paul, “Give me your wallet!” Paul didn’t have his wallet on him and had left it at home. He had his drivers license and maybe two dollars in his pocket. He had come into town to see a friend and knew it could be dangerous at this time of day. So, he told the young man, “I don’t have my wallet on me. I left it at home, but I have a few dollars in my pocket, and you can have that.” Now, the young man appeared to be more agitated and told Paul, “Give me the wallet or I’ll shoot you!” Paul calmly told the young man again, “I don’t have a wallet on me. Do you want to check?” “No!” The young man was now even more frustrated and Paul wasn’t sure if he was going to survive this. So, he began to pray and asked God to help him.

The young man was now extremely upset and was getting even more upset. His hand was shaking, and Paul continued to pray. Finally, the young man said, “It would have been so much easier if you had just given me your wallet.” And with that, he pulled the trigger on the gun. But while Paul was prepared to die, all he heard was a click. The gun had not fired, and the young man now had a look of fear on his face. Paul reacted quickly and told the young man, “I don’t know what problems you have in your life. I don’t know what kind of life you had growing up or anything else about you that would make you want to do this. And I don’t know what your problems are but I have an answer. Now, the young man, thoroughly frustrated, was staring at Paul with a very angry stare. He shouted at Paul, “You don’t know anything about my life!” Paul said, “Your right. That’s what I just said but I do have an answer to your situation.” The young man asked, “And what is that? I just tried to kill you so why would you want to help me?”

Finally, Paul told the young man, “I was once a troubled young man just like you. Well, I never tried to rob anyone at gun point but I had my nasty moments. I was troubled just like you are but one day I met a man who wanted to help me. He told me about Jesus and my whole life changed.” The young man shouted back, “I don’t want to hear nothing about no Jesus or God. Besides, they don’t even exist and if they did, I wouldn’t be like this with all these problems.” Paul responded, “Yes, God does exist and I’ll tell you how I know.” The young man asked, “How do you know he exists? You just almost got killed. What kind of God is that?”

Paul told him, “You’re right. I almost just got killed. But I’ll tell you how I know he is real and does exist. While you were aiming that gun at me, I was praying to Him and asking Him to help me. When you pulled that trigger, the gun didn’t fire. That’s how I know He exists and is real and is a living God who wants to help you.” The young man dropped his head and began to sob. Paul walked to him and told Him about Jesus. He shared the gospel with the young man and the Lord touched the heart of this young man and he was changed.

Maybe you have heard testimonies similar to this before. Whatever the problem, God has the solution. In this world and in this culture and society, the problems are many. This country (USA) has so many social and individual problems. The country is divided on many fronts. The political divide has separated friends and family, not to mention husbands and wives. I have read comments following a sports story and it never fails that eventually, someone throws in a political comment. Then, instead of continuing to comment on the story, it turns to a political debate. So, what’s the answer?

Social issues are extremely numerous. Transgender, Gay lifestyles, racism, school curriculums and so many more. People can’t have a simple discussion about these issues without it turning into a heated argument. These people also include Christians and local churches. During the pandemic, the issue over masks was another heated debate among people. And once again, this included the Christian community. Churches were split, people were leaving churches over this argument and society itself was spilt and divided.

When churches were ordered to close their doors, some rebelled and insisted on staying open. But it wasn’t always because the Lord told them to do that but instead, these churches took a political stance. I don’t know which of those might also have been led by God to keep their doors open, but it is apparent that most were simply taking a political stance. Many of the churches in this country were taking political stances. Pastors were involved in political debates and sounded more like secular politicians instead of pastors. No, Christians were not exempt from the divide. So what is the answer to all of this?

The world claims to have the answer to everything. Just ask them. But what they have are band aides. They only provide temporary treatment and can never provide the only cure. The world speaks of peace. Peace in Vietnam, peace in the Middle East and Southwest Asia and now in Ukraine. But what did Jesus tell us about peace?

 “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.   JN 14:27

The world can never provide the peace which Jesus gives to us. But to know that peace, a person must know Jesus. The young man in the fictional account above couldn’t know any peace until he surrendered to Jesus. It’s the same way for anyone who is not saved. But peace is not the bottom-line answer to these problems. It is only a post solution gift. All the fighting, rioting in the streets when people don’t get what they want, school shootings and mass public shootings as well as basic violence. The climate change experts tell us they have all the answers but they don’t. For every solution they come up with, it creates another problem. But they don’t tell us that. The Bible tells us what happens to this earth in the end and all the climate change solutions can never stop that work of God.

So, what’s the bottom-line cause and what’s the answer? I worked in Quality Assurance for a number of years. I learned early on in that specialty that when a problem existed, there had to be a root cause. Repairing anything but the root cause was simply not correcting the problem. All too often in life, the symptoms are mistaken for the root cause and the problem would continue. It would continue until the root cause was determined and corrected. Our lives are the same way. Every person is born with the root cause, and it’s known as sin. Sin is the root cause of every problem in every life. Before I was saved, I was, I repeat, I was an alcoholic. That was the biggest problem in my life, but Jesus had the correction to the root cause of sin which had driven me to that lifestyle. He was the correction. His sacrifice on the cross for my sin was the only correction that would work. He attacked the root cause and saved me and gave me a new life. By the way, for those who can’t buy into this, I never had another drop of alcohol from that moment. I never had a desire for a drink. Jesus took down that wall and set me free from that sin.

Many have told me I was not really an alcoholic, but I tell them that two different counselors diagnosed me as an alcoholic. Think about this. The AA program is based on one drunk helping another to not drink. Even more, it’s one sinner trying to keep another sinner from taking a drink. Sorry, but I’ll take my chances with Jesus who has a spotless track record. It’s been almost forty years since my last can of beer.

How many people in this world are being deceived and mistreated for their problem? I don’t know the number, but it has to be enormous. Sin is the root cause for all of the world’s problems. Why does one major country invade a smaller country? Oh yes, there are all kinds of political answers, but the basic root cause is sin and Jesus is the only answer to correct sin. He came into this world to save people from the wrath of the Father which is coming and to free them from their slavery to sin. He was the sacrifice that defeated death and freed us from our sin. Yes, we still sin but that sin was already paid for on the cross and when God the Father sees us, He doesn’t see the sinners we were and are but He sees Jesus because we have been covered by the righteousness of Jesus. Without that, we could never stand in the presence of God.

So, remember, don’t treat the symptoms, correct the root cause and tell the unsaved struggling person about Jesus. We are all doomed to eternal suffering without Jesus. Every person is born with a sinful nature which is in rebellion to God. We were/are spiritually dead until Jesus saves us from that sin. The only life we would know is a life driven by the sinful nature. The answer to the world’s problems is Jesus. That is always the correction for the root cause which is sin.

-Bill Petite