Worship is the Remedy

I awoke this morning to a message from a friend of mine with a simple question, “Did you know about his personal life?” With the question was a link to an article about one of my “favorite” theologians who had kept a secret affair and attempted to use theology to justify his sin.  I did not know about his personal life or this secret sin

I cannot say this man is truly a favorite theologian, for he held to many nuanced views that I couldn’t agree with. I have just always appreciated his mind and attempt to articulate the deeper things of God. But, with the revelation of his willful sin I am saddened once again by the sinfulness of this world.

Now knowing that he was covering sin in his life, does bring clarity to the weakness of his theological beliefs. His mother wisely said to her son, “What is the most brilliant theology good for, if it is to be shipwrecked in one’s own house?”

The revelation of this theologians fall only follows the news of the Barberton shooter last night and the Las Vegas shooting earlier this week to demonstrate that sin permeates this world. These stories cause me to pause and sorrowfully reflect on the brokenness of this world and ourselves.

My heart is heavy with these stories and others. I grieve the fact that so many of our children and teenagers are subjected to so much of this worlds sin as they are daily bombarded with it through social media. The cruelty and perversion of this world is openly on display everywhere we turn. And the burden of it would be too much for any of us if God had not provided a way of hope and peace in His Son, Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the Light of the World, and He has entered our space to turn hearts and minds to God. He is the Word of God who became flesh and lived a perfect life. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world by being the perfect sacrifice for sin. He is the Life and freely gives new life to all who believe and follow Him.

He is the God who is With us, if we would just stop and become aware of His presence. He longs for us to spend time with Him, to know His healing presence and His great comfort. What would our day, our world look like if all the believers in the world really started each day in His Word instead of watching the morning news? What impact might we have on our culture, on our schools and on our cities?

So, it is in troubling times like these that we need to pause and remember our Savior, to worship our God and to turn our hearts to Him. We need to be reminded that sin does not win. Though it will attack the hearts of our theologians, though it will manifest in violence across our countries, and even in our neighborhoods, sin does not win. Sin cannot win. Christ has already defeated it and we long for the day when it will ultimately be put to death.

But today we live and breathe in the newness of life. Today we have to opportunity to turn our attention to the God who sits on the throne in heaven and sing. We have the privilege of worshiping Him and being reminded that He loves us and has not forgotten us.

Let’s turn our eyes for sinful things and focus them on the beauty of our Creator and His redeeming love for us.