Something is wrong with the world today: Tension, crisis after crisis, suffering, fear, and hopelessness are everywhere. Parents kill their own children, children kill their parents, and even religious leaders are involved in sinful acts and corruption. We don’t have to look beyond our own lives to find fear, tension and despair.

Why all this evil? What is the solution? Is there even a solution?

Some look to politics and governments for an answer but, after centuries of every conceivable form of government, it is clear that no government—no matter how good it may be—can claim to have the answer. That’s because no government can be stronger than its people. Some injustices can be controlled by law, but law cannot change the human heart.

Others feel that the answer is education. If education was the answer, then the centers of higher learning would be places of harmony, of greatest dedication to the common good, of morality and happiness. But we know that this is not true. So, higher education is not the answer to our problems.

Many believe the problem is that some have too much while others have too little, that good economics is the answer. But if economics was the answer, we would have seen that those who have the most money and comfort would be the happiest and most unselfish people. But we know that most of them are not.

Now, if the answer to the world’s problems is not found in politics, economics, education or even man-made religions, where is it found?

The Bible is very clear that we (the human race) rebelled against the authority of God and rejected His control. In doing so, we cut off ourselves from the only source of peace: God.

The tensions and conflicts that are in our society are the result of tensions and conflicts within our hearts. Our sins have made a separation between God and us. This separation is so great that man cannot bridge it.

The Bible tells us that sin is the problem in the world but it does not stop there. It also tells us what the solution is! God’s answer to the world’s problem is not a plan ; it is a person —God Himself!

The Bible teaches that God is a God of love. However, because He is also holy, He cannot tolerate sin. God’s love wants to rescue man from sin and bring him back to friendship with God but His holiness cannot overlook sin.

How, then, can these two factors in the nature of God be reconciled? This is why God sent His Son from heaven in the form of a human, into the human race. Because God is love, He wanted to save and restore the human race.

John 3:16-17 makes that very clear: “ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

Jesus came to take our sins upon Himself. He suffered the punishment we deserved. He died the death we should have died. He bore the guilt we should have borne.

The message of the Bible does not end with the death of Jesus for our sins; a dead Saviour would have little, if any, power to help us in this life. But Jesus rose from the dead! He demonstrated victory over death, fear and sin.

Jesus is the bridge by which we can cross the gap between us and God. There is no other bridge, there is no other way. Jesus said of Himself: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) On another occasion, Jesus said: “I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life.” (John 6:47-48)

This means that anyone who admits he is a sinner, accepts the Lord Jesus Christ as the one who died to save him from sin, and becomes a child of God by asking God to take control of his life and accepting the complete authority of God.

What is wrong with the world today? It is the absence of God in the lives of individuals and governments. If Christ is not in control of the life of a nation and its people, then that nation is controlled by evil and will not prosper. And sin, restlessness and tension will destroy it.

To the question “What is wrong with the world?” and “What is the solution?” God’s answer is: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)

God is the only solution to our world and personal problems! Peter, one of Jesus’ disciples, put it this way: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68)

Pastor Joseph Hovsepian