The Problem with the World

I  was speaking with a friend recently and discussing the matter of pride.  “One of the symptoms of pride," he said, "is finding fault with other people.” I promptly responded, “Yeah, I’ve noticed you have a problem with that.” Many of us are experts at spotting sin in others, but we often fail to examine our own hearts.  We’re quick to offer a mirror for our friends and family, but we refuse to turn the mirror around and look into it for ourselves.  I had dandruff in high school, and one day a girl I really liked walked up and pointed out that I had "saw dust" in my hair.  Yeah, I could have played it off as some wood shop experiment gone bad, but I was so sick of my dandruff that I looked up at her and said with cheerful sarcasm, “Oh no, that’s dandruff!”  I had tried everything and nothing seemed to work, so one day I began combing my hair in the dark!  I reasoned that if I couldn't see it, it would eventually go away.  But it didn't.

Many times we deal with our sin in this manner.  Our souls are overgrown with a cancer that's more insidious than anything this world can throw at us.  The Bible says that the human heart is deceitful and desperately wicked.  Some people acknowledge this truth and others try to hide it.  Jesus said in John 3:19-20, “Light has come into the world, but people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.”  I hid my dandruff in darkness because I hated what I saw - but it didn't make the dandruff go away.  Many of us live in the darkness of envy, greed, lust, pride... and if we say we don’t, we prove that we do.  “Shutting off the lights” may hide the problem from our view, but it won't cure our disease or cleanse our hearts.  Only by facing our sin and letting the light of Christ shine in can we find healing and escape the pervasive darkness of our souls. 

One of my favorite bands, Downhere, sings a song called "The Problem," and in it they explore all the possible reasons for the evil in the world. They consider blaming history, the government, Satan... but what do they ultimately conclude?

Everybody's wondering how the world could get this way
If God is good, then how could it be filled with so much pain?
It's not the age-old mystery we've made it out to be.

Yeah, there's a problem with the world. The problem with the world is me.

The answer is to turn on the lights - no matter how much we may hate what we see!  We must stop playing dumb and start adopting a healthy and honest introspection, leading us to pray like David: "Lord, show me if there be any offensive way in me.”  For, as Downhere sings, "the sooner you can sing along, the sooner you can sing this song, the happier we'll be. 'The problem with the world is me.'"