WHEN CHRISTIANITY DOESN'T SEEM TO "WORK"

You know, in many ways it is only fair to acknowledge that Christianity just doesn’t seem to “work” in this world. People ask for healing, and it doesn’t happen. The divorce rate here in America among Christians is perhaps even higher than among non-believers. Our money says, “In God we trust,” and yet we Americans are in greater personal debt than anywhere else on earth, and we are rapidly increasing our collective borrowing from the future. Ask Christians in North Korea if their prayers for deliverance are being answered. Ask disciples of Jesus in southern Sudan or in Iraq if their faith is working for them to have personal peace. Ask the Russian Orthodox believers why only 2% of the people of Russia attend church weekly. Ask any of the prophets through the centuries if their faith has made the abundant life “work” for them.

I have inquired of the Lord, and I am assured that the purpose, the destiny, the calling for our city of Cincinnati is reconciliation between Blacks and Whites. It is appropriate that the Harriet Tubman House and the Freedom Center are here, for this city was and is the place to which the enslaved find freedom. And yet it seems that every time we turn around, race issues flare up, especially between the white police force and the black citizenry. Ironically, we find that the only people allowed to put up a cross are the abominable KKK, while public schools aren’t allowed to pray or to display the Ten Commandments. What has happened to our destiny of reconciliation?
What kind of answer can we give to these assertions? If Christian faith doesn’t “work,” then what hope is there? Is it all a lie?

First, keep in mind that no other system “works,” either. Unbelievers around you are no more fulfilled than the Christians; there are plenty of statistics to prove that fact. Communism in Korea and China is what oppresses the Christians, not the church. Muslims oppress the people of Sudan and Iraq. It is our NOT trusting in God that has brought America to such personal debt. Mankind is radically depraved, and any religious or governmental system is filled with sinfulness.

But there is another level to look at here. Unanswered prayers and failed attempts to find inner peace leave us wondering if there really is a God out there. The world seems to spin uncontrolled by the Divine sometimes, and random things, both good and bad, seem to happen to people on this planet. So we are left wondering, are we alone in this big, empty universe? Where is God when it hurts?

If we walk by sight, and not by faith, we might indeed come to the conclusion that God has abandoned us. Christians suffer unjustly. You yourself might be one of those who suffer. When you come to that point, let me encourage you to read to the end of the Book and hang on.