Every story has an introduction, a problem, a rising tension, a climax and a resolution.<\/p>\n
In order to really understand the\u00a0story of humankind, we have to deeply understand the problem of humankind. If the problem doesn\u2019t make sense, then the solution\u00a0doesn\u2019t quite make sense either. The problem in our story is that Adam and Eve took of the fruit of\u00a0knowledge of good and evil when they were told not to, but what problem did this actually create for us\u00a0as humans?<\/p>\n
First, as a result of Adam and Eve disobeying, their standing\u00a0with God went from innocent to guilty. The second problem came about from their desire to be like God\u00a0and was amplified by the type of fruit that they ate \u2013 The fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.<\/p>\n
As Adam and Eve wanted to be like God, this fruit opened their eyes to becoming judges in their own\u00a0minds. Now they could decide what was right and wrong and what was best for their own lives. The\u00a0result is that all of us constantly gravitate towards finding life where there is no life. The bible calls this\u00a0problem sin.<\/p>\n
All of us as humans have a longing to be\u00a0who we were created to be. The fact that we can\u2019t figure out how to\u00a0restore ourselves leaves us with a lot of anxiety and pain.\u00a0We cope with this pain by constantly going\u00a0back to things that aren\u2019t necessarily bad in and of themselves but weren\u2019t meant to bring us life<\/strong>. When\u00a0we engage in these coping mechanisms we engage in sin behavior. Keep in mind though that sin\u00a0behavior is just a symptom of a bigger problem which is that we keep looking for life where there is no\u00a0life. Because the behavior itself seems to give some semblance of life, it keeps us from going to the true\u00a0source of life.<\/p>\n In the story of the woman at the well in John 4, Jesus says to an outcast that \u201cIf you knew the gift of\u00a0God, and who it is that is saying to you, \u2018Give me a drink.\u2019 You would have asked him, and he would have\u00a0given you living water.\u201d\u00a0This living water is life that we all long for, but as long as we are satisfied with\u00a0something that vaguely resembles life (sin), we\u2019ll never become desperate enough to run to Jesus as the\u00a0living water.<\/strong><\/p>\n Often times as Christians, we can have a tendency to try to focus on changing the symptom of our\u00a0problem. Keep in mind the coping mechanism \u2013 our sin behavior is just that, something you are coping\u00a0with. If we think of that as the big problem, our natural tendency is to judge ourselves and hide in shame\u00a0as Adam and Eve did. But what if sin was actually helpful to us? Just as symptoms are helpful to a car\u00a0mechanic in diagnosing the underlying problem, sin behavior can be helpful in diagnosing the real issue.<\/p>\n This is the reason why we are called to live in the light, to invite community into a process of diagnosis\u00a0and solution.\u00a0We no longer need to cower from our own sin in shame, but step back non-judgmentally\u00a0and invite the Holy Spirit and our community to speak truth into it.<\/strong><\/p>\n Matthew 6:25 speaks about the relationship with the symptom and the root problem when it says,\u00a0\u201cTherefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life\u2026\u201d If you\u2019ve ever tried not to be anxious when\u00a0you are stressed out, the only thing that happens is that you become more anxious that you can\u2019t get rid\u00a0of your anxiety. If you notice though, it starts with therefore, so we know that the non-anxiety results\u00a0from the passage right before that. Verse 24 says \u201cNo one can serve two masters, for either he will hate\u00a0the one and love the other or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve\u00a0both God and money.\u201d So we know that the anxiety is a result of serving multiple masters. Verse 22\u00a0explains, it says \u201cThe eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full\u00a0of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.\u201d<\/p>\n Jesus describes this process of what happens when we worship things other than God. Whatever we\u00a0worship (depend on for life) becomes a lens that we see the world through kind of like the eye being the\u00a0lamp of the body. When we worship money for example, we begin to objectify other people and see\u00a0their value based on their wealth, we objectify God and see him as a means to get what we want, and\u00a0we see our value based on how much of it we have. The symptoms then becomes our actions in light of\u00a0doing whatever it takes to get more money, and the anxiety that results from it not fully satisfying.<\/p>\n The same thing can be said about sex, education, popularity and even ministry. It\u2019s often neglected\u00a0because ministry is seen as good, but so are the other things, but when they become our object of\u00a0worship, it distorts how we see life. With ministry, we objectify others, see them as projects, we see God\u00a0as a way to accomplish our goals, and we see our value based on our performance. It\u2019s important to\u00a0note that all the things I\u2019ve mentioned that can be our gods are good things, but when distorted become\u00a0a source of sin behavior and anxiety.<\/p>\n The solution that Jesus gives in verse 26 when he says \u201cLook at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor\u00a0reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than\u00a0they?\u201d When we see reality through the lens of God, we begin to see other people as inherently\u00a0valuable, image bearers of God, we see God as good, because while we were yet sinners, Christ died for\u00a0us, and we see our own value as inherently valuable. Our longing for value and our search for it outside\u00a0of ourselves comes to an end when we believe that our value is embedded in our very existence.<\/p>\n Believing in truth becomes the solution to our problem of sin.\u00a0Next up is the process of repentance and how it moves us towards believing in\u00a0truth and leads us towards thriving.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Every story has an introduction, a problem, a rising tension, a climax and a resolution. In order to really understand the\u00a0story of humankind, we have to deeply understand the problem of humankind. If the problem doesn\u2019t make sense, then the solution\u00a0doesn\u2019t quite make sense either. The problem in our story is that Adam and Eve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-89","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n