The Bottom Line, Ministries Christian News, Articles, & Poetry 
How do we fix our broken world? This question is on the minds of most Christians today.
The answer is not simple or we would have already done it. God’s Word clearly tells us how to do it. Is our “simple plan” for saving the souls of men working to fix our world? The answer is a spiritual one. Do we have the wrong idea of just how things get fixed?
Great leaders and good governments get much of the credit for major advancements in any society. The truth is–any lasting change starts from the bottom. It does not start at the top. We keep looking for that one person or that one great revival that will fix things and put America back on track. Something that is broken doesn’t get fixed that way.
Things are fixed one piece at a time, with painstaking obedience, changing one heart at a time.
We wrongly view salvation in Christ the same way. We believe one real and sincere salvation experience changes everything. It does not! It is only the beginning of a lifetime of changing. A continued “good work” of God’s Spirit transforms the heart of a man into the likeness of His Son Jesus Christ. Changing a broken heart works the same way as changing a broken world. It happens one piece at a time.
Martin Luther King Jr. was the face of the Civil Rights movement. I don’t want to diminish the “good work” that God did through him in any way, but it was the work of the many on the bottom that changed the hearts of Americans. It was people like Rosa Parks, the freedom riders, and some school children who stood in non-violent protest of racial inequality.
Because of the good work God did through them, a good leader in Dr. King was raised up and became the voice of a righteous movement. It was believed by righteous people and born of a righteous God.
One by one they changed the hearts and minds of Americans to support their righteous cause. It will take that kind of “good work” powered by the Spirit of Christ to fix our broken world. As God’s people submit themselves to suffering for the cause of Christ, obedience to God will be learned and shared with others. As we walk with Christ living a life of submission to God’s will, we will share the gospel that has the power to give life to those who are dead. Then, we will see our world start to change.
As God’s people become more obedient in bearing good fruit, the good fruit will then bear even more good fruit. This is how the early church grew and began to thrive–God’s people heard the Word of the Lord and obeyed it. Leaders will then be raised up to lead us righteously as Dr. King did. The leaders we presently have seem only to seek their own gain at the expense of those on the bottom.
Our broken world needs obedient soldiers of the cross sowing seeds in the bottom soil. Those seeds will grow.
Obedience will only come through much suffering as obedience is learned and we are perfected in Christ. As long as we deny that suffering is necessary, there will be little obedience. With little obedience, you end up where we are in America. We are broken!
What seeds are you sowing to fix our broken world?
Love Knows
For Every heart that is broken
And it doesn’t utter a sound
For every dream that is stolen
And hope that is lost can’t be found
Love knows
When calm waters begin to rage
And when our ground begins to quake
When all we see fails you and me
And strong towers fall like a tree
Love knows
He is there to pick us up
When we fall without a sound
He is there to lift us up
When we are sinking and about to drown
Love knows … when we’ve lost our way
Love knows … when the pain comes to stay
Love knows … we are poor in spirit
Love knows … just how He will mend it
Love knows
Love always knows
He was there … when we tried it on our own
He was there … when no love for Him was shown
He is here … now that we are at our end
He is here … our broken hearts He can mend
Love knows
His Love ever grows
His Love ever shows
His Love helps us know
That His Love always knows
Vasquez Savage
Artwork by Kathie Luther
flickr.com/photos/heart_windows_art/
Beautifully said!
Thank you for your kind words Cora. Your bless me so undeservedly!
Hi Ron, I was drawn by the Spirit to study Heb. 5:8 and related verses. I sure learned a lot. I never knew that obedience and suffering were related.
a. When He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears: The agony of Jesus in the Garden of Gesthemane (Matthew 26:36-39, Luke 22:44) proves He knows what it is like to struggle with the difficulty of obedience, yet He obeyed perfectly.
i. This answers the question, “How can this glorious, enthroned Jesus know what I am going through down here?” He knows; obedience did not always come easy for Jesus.
b. The word for supplications is hiketeria. This ancient Greek word essentially means “an olive branch wrapped in wool,” because that is was someone in Greek culture would hold and wave to express their desperate prayer and desire. Significantly, this supplication of Jesus took place in a garden of olives – and he supplied the “wool,” being the Lamb of God!
c. And was heard because of His godly fear: If Jesus asked that the cup be taken away from Him (Luke 22:42), and the cup was not taken away, how can it be said that He was heard? Because His prayer was not to escape His Father’s will, but to accept it – and that prayer was definitely heard.
d. He learned obedience by the things which He suffered: How could Jesus (who never stopped being God) learn anything? Then again, how does God, enthroned in heaven experience obedience, except by casting off the glory of the throne and humbling Himself as Jesus did?
i. Jesus did not pass from disobedience to obedience. He learned obedience by actually obeying. Jesus did not learn how to obey; He learned what is involved in obedience.
e. He learned obedience by things which He suffered: Suffering was used to teach Jesus. If suffering was fit to teach the Son of God, we must never despise it as a tool of instruction in our lives.
i. Some say that we might learn through suffering; but such lessons are only God’s second best. God really intends for us just to learn by His Word, and it is never His real plan for us to learn through trials and suffering. But was Jesus ever in the Father’s second best?
ii. The Bible never teaches that strong faith will keep a Christian from all suffering. Christians are appointed to affliction (1 Thessalonians 3:3). It is through many tribulations we enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22), and our current suffering is the prelude to glorification (Romans 8:17).
Thanks!!!!!
Awesome additional info. Thanx Kathie! ron,
I am also, delighted about the artwork!
You are welcome. It fits the article perfectly. Your artistry is tremendous. God gave you a special gift and has given me the blessing of being able to use it to His glory and for His purpose. What could be better! ron,
Yes!! I am blessed! Wanted to add the other related verses I discovered in the study of Heb. 5:8. Here they are:
Heb. 10:5-9
Isaiah 50:5-6
Matt. 3:15
John 4:34
John 6:38
John 15:10
Phil. 2:8
Thanks Ron for sharing this. You write with some much beauty and passion.