Clinging to the Cross Is Our Only Hope in This Mad World
In the midst of Holy Week and the coming of Easter Sunday—the high point on the Christian calendar when we celebrate Christ’s victory over death—we find ourselves at a sober moment in our nation’s history.
How did we get to a time when the legal right to abort an innocent baby is seen as the epitome of strength and freedom?
How have we so quickly pivoted from dedicating resources and attention to preserving life at any cost during the pandemic to so cavalierly diminishing its significance inside the womb?
How did we get to a time when an anti-natalist mentality pervades our thoughts and choices. Children are seen, not as hope for the future, but as carbon-emitting polluters who strain the sacred environment.
“I always knew I didn’t want kids, for environmental reasons,” one woman recently told The Guardian.
Popular media regularly tells us it’s “burdensome” to have children, much less a large family, but freeing not to do so.
These aspects of our modern society are just a few ways the broken foundations of our culture are exposed.
So, how did we get here?
I’d contend that there are many factors that caused us to reach this point of cultural degradation and moral license. You can point to postmodern philosophy, the sexual revolution, fourth-wave feminism and the perverted experiments and ideas of John Money; all those are important causes to consider.
But what caused those events? Why have they taken such a hold on Western civilization? Why do so many go along with these erroneous and faulty ideas?
These are difficult questions.
And yet, we find ourselves here nonetheless.
We are the unfortunate individuals who live in an age when a postmodern psychosis, an exaltation of the irrational, rules the day.
We live in a society that is filled to the brim with lies. Evil is called good. What is good is called evil.
The opening lines of Charles Dickens’ “The Tale of Two Cities” aptly describe our present situation.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness.”
Despite our many cultural evils, we can live our lives as if nothing is out of the ordinary. We wake up, drink our coffees, head to work, exercise, eat with our families and then stream an hour or two of Netflix before bed.
Go to sleep. Wake up. Repeat.
Compared to previous generations, our bellies are full and our bank accounts flush. We have become wealthier, fatter, more comfortable and satiated than our ancestors could have possibly imagined.
And all the while, we’re deeply unhappy and alone.
I’m reminded of this verse of Scripture from the First Epistle of Peter: “The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers” (1 Peter 4:7, ESV).
During Holy Week, Christians commemorate the passion of our Lord, starting with Palm Sunday celebrating Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem and ending with the celebration of Christ’s resurrection.
Yet, in between these two events, the triumphal entry of the King and His glorious resurrection, Jesus had to endure His passion.
His betrayal. His trial. His crucifixion. His suffering. His death.
If Christ, God incarnate had to endure tribulations, and suffer the consequences of evil, how much more should we?
Just as Christ had to suffer before being raised, so must we.
“If [we are] children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him” (Rom. 8:17, ESV).
When we turn on the news and see yet another depressing headline, more lies, more suffering, more death, we live with hope.
Christ suffered and was raised from the dead. We too suffer, before we shall be raised up.
As Christians, we also take great hope in the second coming of our Lord, which is nearer now than when we first believed. But until then, how now should we live?
In 2 Peter 3:14, 17-18, Peter answers that question:
“Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. … Take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”
There is no question the world is mad and upside down, but it’s Christ’s Passion and Resurrection that provide and promise us ultimate hope that He will one day right every wrong and “make all things new” (Rev. 21:5).
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Zachary Mettler is a staff writer and communications liaison for The Daily Citizen at Focus on the Family.
