The World, Clearly

The world is a nasty place. But we often forget this for a time. We have never seen a perfect place to measure against it. We can't think all the time about all the evil in the world. The only people that wouldn't drive insane are those who are already insane.

But we can also build up too many defenses against the nastiness of the world. We must at least let it penetrate into ourselves enough that we realize there is a problem. The often-forgotten first step of solving a problem is realizing a problem exists in the first place. It is not a solution to either our own problems or the world's problems to cauterize our own ability to recognize problems.

We particularly must face our own nastiness. I'm going to write about the problems the world has too, because the external problems the world has are also part of the case for Christianity, and part of the story Christianity tells to make sense of the world. But the problem that Christianity is truly concerned about isn't the problems everyone else has. It is the problems you have, in yourself. You can't fix everyone else. No matter how loudly you yell at them or hit them. You can only fix yourself.

It is uncomfortable to gaze inward. Our minds are expert at preparing rationalizations and excuses for it. But it is necessary to look inside and see what is really there.

For with whatever judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with whatever measure you measure, it will be measured to you. - Matthew 7:2

Nobody lives up to even their own ethical standards, let alone the loftier ones necessary to create a truly perfect person or society.

Both the internal and the external issues come from the same place in the end, so understanding either one leads to understanding the other.

I am not baffled by the evil in the world. I see it in my heart.

Obviously, when we look inside, we won't all find the exact same thing. But you will at the very least find seeds. Some of those seeds will have grown. Where some people have a forest you may have only a shrub, but the shrub understands where the forest came from, for the shrub is also much larger than its seed.

Left unchecked, that shrub will become a forest. And what you may judge a little tiny growth God may judge much larger with his measure of perfection.