Can’t Fix It From the Inside
When a piece of equipment or a device fails, it is impossible to repair it using the parts of the broken unit itself. We must always employ the use of a tool or replacement part outside of that system in order to affect the repair.
Sure, we’ve seen things like the movie Apollo 13 where they were able to fix things using material already on the craft. But in that instance, they scavenged components from the abandoned lunar module (spare parts) to solve their problem.
The human body, in all its wondrous goings on, cannot heal itself without the food, energy and water required for the cells to do their work. And this fuel comes from outside the body. It does not create its own fuel.
And no repair we ever make is lasting. Even at its best, the body’s efforts are also in vain. Eventually, everything fails beyond repair to the point that a full replacement is necessary, where available. And then, from where shall that replacement come?
It’s a great wonder, then, that we are so often convinced that we can fix the broken pieces of our own lives by utilizing the very components we’ve a desire to repair!
Now, there are many of us who convince ourselves that there isn’t really anything wrong, particularly when life seems to go according to our plan. We feel “blessed” and “thankful” as it appears that God is working hard to approve of our self-centered decision-making, else we feel that “everything is working out just fine” without any god whatsoever. And this makes it immensely easier to go along with the falsehoods of the world around us.
But we are deceived if we believe we have our own lives in order, and yet we always stand with the great audacity to assume that we can “fix” others with whom we are in relationship by utilizing some special powers or techniques that we ourselves do not possess or at best have never mastered.
Not being satisfied with our own stations in life, we often dream of how great it would be if we just had a little more money, had a better job, had a bigger house, lived in a better neighborhood, had more time, had more stuff… But then later discovering that those greener fields were never as green as we’d dreamed, and certainly not as green as what most likely lies beyond them.
Every being in creation is aware that things are not as they should be, and that internal “ought” in each of us demands justice and balance. And so we continually work to affect repairs, alone and aside others with the same desire, and attempt to “change the world.”
But whenever we attempt to use the things of creation as objects of our desire, whether to repair what we see in our lives as “broken” or to bring ourselves pleasure or happiness in an effort to cover over our discontent (with ourselves or the world around us), we fail dreadfully even though we may believe we are happier in the moment. In many cases, it’s only after the moment has passed that we become aware of the failure.
[We] traded the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
Romans 1:25 TLV
Since it was God, through Jesus, who created the entire universe and every living and non-living thing in it, particularly us, why do we continually try to take matters into our own hands instead of inviting God to participate? He is the only one with the knowledge, wisdom, equipment, parts, and love to get the job done at all and done right!
How prideful are we that our very first inclination, when we discover our bodies or minds (or both) are malfunctioning, is that by sheer will we may overcome it? The atheist may say, “Religion is a crutch,” and they’d be right. For it takes humility to recognize one’s inability to accomplish certain things, since only in weakness can we be made strong!
We must humble ourselves and go to the doctor because we admit we don’t have the knowledge or the tools to fix it. We take our cars to a mechanic because we don’t have the knowledge or the tools to fix it. We read books and listen to experts on everything under the sun to learn how to do what we don’t know how to do. This is great, of course, and it demonstrates our ability to be humble. And at these times we’re even willing to pay for it!
Yet when our souls are in distress, when our hearts ache, we only turn to God for assistance after we’ve tried everything else the world has to offer. Is it because the world offers quick fixes to things that allow us to continue our pursuit of those greener pastures? Ironically, when we stand still long enough to recognize God’s desire to be with us in the moment, we’d soon realize that the grass is always greenest at the Father’s feet.
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.
Psalms 23:1-3 NIV
