Are you trying to fix the world?

This world sure needs fixing.  At least that is the message I see on Facebook and news reports.  Everybody seems to know how to do it–or how someone else ought to do it.  Usually ‘fixing the world’ means getting others to change.  God’s plan is that we change–and let Him work through us.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a ‘fixer.’  Not a fixer of things—oh, my no!  My spatial reasoning ability leaves no doubt:  My fixes create disaster.  The fixing I lean toward always focuses on making people feel better.  It hurts my heart to see others hurt.  Anger—mine or others—leads me to tears quicker than any physical pain.  I hate that life creates pain—yet I know (by intellect and experience) that pain is purposeful.  That truth makes me confront another truth:  My ‘world fixing’ is quite likely as disastrous as my ‘thing fixing. ‘

My propensity to fix finds its root in a longing for security and peace.  Sure, I could defend my ‘fixing’ with dozens of Scriptures and point to the heart of God as my motivation.  I would not be dishonest in that, but the impurity of my ‘self’ desire for harmony is equally true.  There are all sorts of childhood reasons I could point to, but I suspect they are not so much causative as symptomatic of the design God laid out for me. A design intended to point me on the road to finding the only true source of security and peace:  Jesus Christ, the Living Word.

Making the choice to walk the road toward Jesus Christ is my only real responsibility.  The life circumstances God chooses for me– birthplace, family, experiences–are designed to help me Jesus.  The choice, though, remains mine:  Will I choose to honor God or heed my instinctual response?  That instinct is the living reality of Proverb 16:25:  “There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death.”

The journey toward God is individual for all.  The choices are moment by moment…sometimes seemingly small other times overwhelming huge.  Always it is a choice of Life or Death.  Moses called the nation of Israel to the choice with these words from Deuteronomy 30:16:

“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!

All of this returns me to the common detour many of us take: fixing the world.  Humanity shares my propensity for fixing because we all want our own way. God did not create us to be ‘fixers.’  He is sovereign.  He ordains what He will and His plans are good.  What the Lord ‘demands’ of us is that we do justly, love mercy and walk humbly.

• We are to look to the Bible to define ‘best’ in every situation we encounter—and then we are to do what He says.  We do not have to solve the problems of the world or ‘be right’ about every issue.  In fact, we don’t have to have an opinion on every issue.
• We are to love mercy—because we all mess up (probably more often than we know).
• Finally, we are to walk humbly—understanding we only have part of the picture.  Understanding our journey is as unique as the journey of every other person.

God is in charge. 

Where do you need to trust in the sovereignty of God?