by Tank Tankersley
Have you ever observed that, as to any matter of significance, it is almost always easy to know what to do but hardly ever easy to do it? Thousands of books have been written on losing weight, but all one needs to know is “exercise more and eat less.” This does not mean that it is easy to lose weight, but it is easy to know how to. Want to make better grades? Study harder. Want more money? Work harder. You don’t have to be a genius to figure this stuff out, but you may need a bit of character to carry it out. “Ay, there’s the rub.” Character has always been in shorter supply than brains.
Nor must one posses a graduate degree in theology to know how God would have him live. The Bible tells us what God expects of us. Knowing is the easy part. Doing is tougher. It has always been thus. The problem that Adam and Eve experienced in the garden did not result from ignorance. God had told them what to do and what not to. But Adam and Eve had an attitude problem. “Who is God to tell us what to do?” they asked. Well, the answer is that God is the One who created them and gave them the world, and each other. You would think that they could have seen the wisdom of doing it God’s way. And wouldn’t they feel obliged, if only out of gratitude, to do it His way? Well, they didn’t. And man doesn’t.
There are plenty of problems in the world. Drugs. Hunger. Poverty. hatred. War. And the Tennessee General Assembly is not going to solve them. Nor will Congress. Nor the United Nations. In fact, the problems aren’t going to be solved. And the reason that they are not is that the sin of Adam and Eve persists, “Who does God think He is?” did not die in Eden. The created have still not learned that they ought to do it the Creator’s way.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that the Creator entered history as Jesus of Nazareth. And that Jesus rescued a world gone wrong. And what does it mean? It means that individual men and women can do, if they will, what the world has always refused to do. They can do it the Creator’s way. And if they do, all their problems can be dealt with. Unhappiness. Disappointment. Pain. Suffering. Betrayal. Sin. And even death itself. All problems. Every single one.