Crying for a Savior

"You wrote that the world doesn't need a savior. But, everyday, I hear the world crying for one." -Superman to Lois Lane

Sounds like the "Man of Steel" has touched on something quite telling about the human race. Everybody wants peace in their lives and the world. The problem is agreeing on the best way in which to discover that peace. Depending on the backgrounds, beliefs and experiences of the individual, what they define as peace can vary as much as the designs of a snowflake. However, one central theme to the varying ways in which to achieve peace revolves around the idea of love. You hear it all the time, "If we would just love each other more everything will be okay." Perhaps some of you are familiar with the following individuals and their quotes.

"All major religious traditions carry basically the same message, that is love, compassion and forgiveness the important thing is they should be part of our daily lives." Dalai Lama

"Where there is love there is life." Mohandas Gandhi

"I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love." Mother Teresa

I know these are just three quotes, but they are from some of the worlds most respected sources. While these sayings are poetic and encouraging, they are very vague in their description of what love actually is. This failure to define what love is allows for the individual to define it. And with 6 billion people on the earth, you risk having 6 billion definitions of love. It is hard to find unity when that is the case. But, one thing I noticed about them, and most descriptions of love, are that its origin is found within the human being and that it must involve self effort in order to spread that love. While I don't entirely disagree with this there is one large problem. None of us know how to love until we know what love is.

"For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height -- to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:14-19

Before we can love others with the love that leads to unity and, eventually, peace within ourselves and the world, we must first come to the One that is love. Jesus said to "love one another," but He went on to say that we are to love "as I have loved you." How is it that Jesus loved us? It starts by understanding the condition shared by all mankind. And that condition is that we are all born into this world spiritually dead to God in our sins. When God created Adam, He breathed His life into Adam and Adam became a living being. However, before Adam had any children, he sinned and God removed His life from Adam. Therefore, all mankind, having been descended from Adam, are born in his image and likeness. That includes you and me. That can be described as the Bad News. Man, through various religions, teachings and disciplines has tried to reach up to God. In most cases it is a futile attempt to invent ways in which to modify our behavior so as to get along with each other. The degree in which we get along is called love, but all it indicates is that we have agreed on laws in which to abide by. Yet, if they worked in the manner in which they were intended, there would not still be a call to "love one another."

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." 1 John 4:7-11

However, God's provision for mankind, Jesus Christ, is what is called the Good News. Jesus has done for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Jesus said that apart from Him we can do nothing. That means that without placing saving faith in Him the sayings of people like the Dalai Lama, Gandhi and Mother Teresa have no substance and rely on the individual to determine what they mean and how to apply them. Therefore, you will never have peace within the individual much less world peace because without knowing the love God has shown to you, in Christ, you cannot share it with others. Jesus, through His death, burial and resurrection has done for us what we could not and cannot do for ourselves. Being spiritually dead to God, in our sins, required a sacrifice that would satisfy God enough in order to allow Him to restore His life, lost in Adam, to all who believe in Jesus. "Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God (1 Peter 3:18)." The reason God is love can be defined by what we see in Jesus Christ. God loved us so much, and desired a relationship with us so bad, that He came to this earth in order to do what we could not, so that we could have a relationship with Him. When we realize how much He has loved us in Christ we come alive to God through faith in Him. It is then, and only then, that we can share with the world that which we have freely received from God. Unfortunately, the world wants to do things its own way without Christ.

"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first." John 15:18

I am afraid Superman was right.