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Making sense of our world these days is a challenging and confusing task.
Often times, I look at our world, how it’s being run, and am often thinking to myself how it can be run so poorly. When I see policies, bills, statements being passed or not, a perplexed look, a grimace flashes across my face. I look at how fragmented, divided, and isolated our state is in, it’s clear that none of us are on the same page.
A prevailing thought I’ve been having is “nothing seems to make sense!“
I feel despondent in a world trending downward and frustrated at the unreasonableness of our leadership. Unfortunately, as a result, wrestling with news after news, decision after decision, the feelings I have personally been left with are confusion, anger, and depression.
I brought these feelings to my friend Greg one day and thankfully he gave me a strong word regarding living in this time:
“It’s not supposed to make sense”
Spiritual Blindness as the Operator
And he gave a powerful verse to remind me:
“The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see…”
2 Corinthians 4:4
What he was explaining to me was: Don’t try to make sense of a non-sensical world because the world isn’t governed by logic. It is governed by a range of spiritualities known and beknownst to them.
The most poignant example of this is at the trial of Jesus before Pilate. Though innocent, he stood condemned and he raised an important question, “For which crimes do you charge me of?”
The people who charged him could not answer, even though the most logical explanation was that he was innocent. This is a stark reminder that the governing bodies of our world, though on the appearance govern with logic, do not do so.
The Bible would describe that the people who condemned and murdered Jesus didn’t know what they were doing. In their minds it makes sense; but in reality, they are controlled by something other than sense.
This word is a powerful reminder of those who are frustrated with trying to make sense of the world. The truth is–it never will make sense. This truth is liberating as it leads me to another truth about how to navigate this world.
How Then To Navigate and Bring Change to This World
Paul speaks on this as he declares to the Corinthian church, “When I came to you, I didn’t come with wisdom. I came with weakness and trembling, to show that the power is not in me, but in God”
The intellectual giant of the New Testament proclaimed and warned the church that the wisdom of the world is not the means by he changes. He writes:
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
1 Cor 1:27
Paul’s exhortation is a poignant reminder that the world we live in operates in a spiritual darkness that cannot be solved by reason. There is no reason, logic, nor policy that can correct the world’s issues.
Yet we are not without hope for transformation!
Even though Jesus was non-sensically condemned, he still did the will of God and made a lasting impact on our world. Like him, we have access to the light of our Father, who empowers us to make a difference in the areas that he’s called us to.
If you have been struggling with making sense of our nonsensical world, I hope this encouragement gives you a sense of peace
3 comments
I was talking with some of my local church leaders and our pastor about this topic, and our pastor said something that struck me strongly in my spirit.
After all the past year of political turmoil, I think Pastor finally summarized his thinking very concisely.
“In my own opinion, I do not need to judge the world’s ideas in order to know they are wrong. It really doesn’t take much discernment at that. The Bible is clear, and we know the differences. But when ideas begin to flourish we should indeed engage in debate and discussion. Especially evangelism. What I am saying is the for every job there is a proper tool. The proper tool to address sin is the Good News, not the government. The government is not the church’s alter ego in any sense. Neither has politicians or parties been given the great commission to fulfill. I view the church’s political escapade as a distraction whereby the actual gospel never comes to the fore, as we are weighted down with discriminating between sins. It is as though we too have lost our focus.”
For some reason, I find this an exciting statement and I think I agree wholeheartedly. He made a related post on the recent violence on Asian Americans, and giving some spiritual and biblical instruction (https://cornerstonechurchchicago.org/2021/03/the-present-situation/).
Great thoughts! I think you’re on to something!
Really great reminder! Thanks for the post, Phil. -Helen