Remembering The Root of the Problem

I started a new personal study called Risk by Kenny Luck. It is a part of the God’s Man Series. I hope to blog my thoughts from the various chapters as I go through the book and the study guide. As I was reading chapter one Kenny says this on page 12 & 13 and it got me thinking…

I had a missionary friend from Kenya write me recently about the AIDS and orphan epidemic in his country. His assessment on the ground gave me a glimpse of the global impact men have and a template for the solution in many cultures: “Here in Kenya,” he said, “we don’t have an AIDS problem; we have a man problem.” He went on to describe how migrant labor forces men to seek work in cities far from home: they sleep with prostitutes, then come back home and infect their villages with the virus. He begged me to come and join him to bring men’s ministry rather than medicine. Africa needs men who make things better, not men who make messes–Africa needs leaders.

He finished by saying, “If men start making different moral choices, the country will change.” How many other communities around the world could say the same thing?

If you are a believer, then you probably agree with me that the root of all life’s problems began with sin. However, if you are like me, it is often easier to look to earthly solutions and earthly strategies to overcome these issues caused by sin, rather than first looking to Christ. I thought this was a great reminder for me personally, as well as, to anyone else interested that if we hope to change our communities, our country, and eventually the world; we have remember that the root of the problem is sin and therefore the solution is the Gospel. I believe too often we want to solve the result of sin rather than to deal with the messier problem, the actual sin.

Personally, I would have requested medicine and men’s ministry help, but I believe the point was made correctly. Unless we focus on the spiritual problem first we will never be able to fix the physical problems. My belief is that what we as people do on the outside is a direct response of our heart’s condition on the inside. We will respond to God in the manner by which we recognize him in our lives. It doesn’t matter what issues (Government, Disease, Education, Etc.) are on the table, I don’t believe we can solve them unless we solve the man/woman issue.

Join the Conversation…What’s your thoughts?