Our world seems increasingly insane. We are entering a Presidential election year
with two aged candidates. Each one
accuses the other of senility! One is in court on trial for criminal acts. Neither
party has met to nominate a candidate, but there are no other options in sight.
All wars are insane, but the wars in Ukraine, Israel and
Gaza seem especially so. Islamic
terrorists have turned to attacks on Russia with the U.S. and the West still in
their sights.
Transgender women are wanting to compete in women’s sports. Caitlin
Jenner, who won the Olympic decathlon when she was Bruce, has come out against
trans women competing in women’s sports while Dawn Staley, coach of NCAA women’s
champion basketball team, defends it.
We live our lives
under a canopy of satellite communications that determine much of our daily
lives. Artificial Intelligence is at the
door, threatening to distort perceptions of reality and, perhaps, take over!
Of course, the world has always had its insanity. Wars with
their atrocities that leave innocent victims in their wake have always been
with us. Ancient Greece and Rome were no
less conflicted about gender identity and sexuality than we are. One needs only read the Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire to document the insanity of that day. While the digital world is
new, efforts to confuse and distort perceptions of the truth are not. Pilate, while
judging Jesus, asked the same question that is being asked today, “What is
truth?”
Interestingly,
the Apostle Paul was accused of being insane when he was imprisoned at
Caesarea. After Paul told Festus and
King Agrippa that he was a persecutor of Christians until Jesus himself
appeared to him, Festus interrupted and said, “You are out of your mind Paul!
Your great learning has driven you insane!" To which Paul responded, “I am not insane.
What I am saying is true and reasonable,” (Acts 26).
If
we wish to preserve our sanity in an insane world, we need to choose Paul’s “insanity.”
Faith in Jesus Christ leads to the discovery that God loves us. “This is love, not that we loved God, but
that He loved us and sent His son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins,” (1
John 4:10).
`Having
experienced God’s love, we are free to love one another, as Jesus said, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another,” (John 13:34). And again, “I tell you, love your
enemies and pray for those who persecute you, … If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?” (Matthew 5:43-48).
Paul
defined love in this way. “Love is
patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not
proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is
not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love
does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It
always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love
never fails,” (1 Corinthians 13:4-8).
However insane the world may seem, this
always remains true and reasonable, to know God’s love and to love others, especially
those who differ from us in appearance and opinion.