Every so often the speechwriters for great men come up with something profound. President Barack Obama recently stated: "We need to end a culture that will ignore a problem until it becomes a full-blown crisis." That indeed is a mouthful - and perhaps the sentence was one of his own and not that of a writer. There are some excellent thoughts that humans put into words. Perhaps that is how King Solomon gathered his proverbs - by gathering wise sayings from others. The Bible is full of tidbits of wisdom that do make life much more pleasant and bearable when we follow them. Life can actually be exciting and fun-filled. It is always up to the decisions of humans to study and apply the wisdom - to disagree with it - to treat it casually - or to ignore it.
We have all noted how things change. Sometimes the passage of time changes the circumstances. When Jesus Christ was born, the king was determined to kill this perceived threat to his throne. God provided a means for Jesus and His parents to flee to Egypt and wait there. The king died, the problem went away (Matt. 2:19,20). Sometimes this sort of experience can place a thought pattern in our mind that we tend to follow. Just wait, run away, the problem will be gone. Sometimes it is! Sometimes is just grows.
Is there a benefit to tackling our problems and facing them? Does it really help if we just ignore them? Should we categorize problems into dangerous and not so dangerous? What are we to do? What effect is there to our psyche and personality when we make it a rule to avoid problems? Does every untended problem become a catastrophe or crisis? These are good questions - and need to be answered as our actions impact us from the time we are little children.
I can recall my university years when we were given assignments that were due on a certain date. Many delayed working on the assignment until the night before. Some would call the teacher to ask for an extension - claiming illness or some such reason, and making themselves into liars, thus chipping away at their own character and integrity. Teachers are often too kind - and so extensions were given. The lesson to the student is that you can delay a crisis or there are ways to handle it. What was not learned was the need to put one's mind and hand to work on a problem and keep the pressure up until the problem has been dealt with (Eccl. 9:10). It truly is a joy to walk into a test, confident in knowing that you are prepared and have studied well - there is virtually no stress then. It is also a good feeling to have a paper done before the deadline and hand it in on time. There is some satisfaction that one gains from that - and the plus part is the character trait that is formed. We become people who roll up our sleeves and tackle a problem. We have learned that a "stitch in time saves nine" and we have developed good habits. That is what the president alluded to. There is a crisis in our nation today because people have developed the culture of putting off until tomorrow whatever they can. That sort of thinking must end or our nation will be lost.
Jesus Christ explained the need to be sure our eyesight is clear before we try to judge or assist others. He spoke about removing the beam from our own eye first (Matt. 7:3-5). People tend to ignore (or try to ignore) their own personal problems and flaws. We also learn to avoid facing the penalty or result of our own actions and decisions. King Saul's attempt to justify his actions to Samuel in I Sam. 15:20-24 is one of the many examples we find in the Bible. He was finally faced with the result of his actions. King David plotted the death of Uriah and married Bathsheba to cover his sin - but it did not go away. Ignoring the evil actions that were done only made the final result worse. The problem grew and grew until he was forced to face his actions. Jesus saw the wicked attitudes of the spiritual leaders of Israel and confronted them. He told them they were ignoring the truth and the laws of God (Matt. 23:17,19,25). Jesus said to get busy cleaning up that which needed cleaning. King Rehoboam received a wonderful kingdom from his father King Solomon. There were a number of problems that needed solving. Solomon, it seems, did not continue to use the wisdom God laid before him. He had married 1000 foreign women and begun to worship their idols. Furthermore, he had laid very heavy taxes upon the people to pay for his extremely extravagant lifestyle. God warned Solomon, but nothing changed. Advisors to Rehoboam explained the attitude of the people to the king and advised him to lower the tax burden. Rehoboam ignored their advice - and the problem caused civil war and the breakup of Israel.
We express concern about pollution and its impact on the climate. The truth of these charges is not yet fully proven, but the evidence of pollution due to greed in the mining and oil industries is clear to see. The throwing away of garbage and the huge mountains of material we discard is revealing. We speak about recycling and controlling chemical spills - while we close our eyes to the cities that dump raw sewage into the oceans or rivers. It is true that we cannot possibly police the whole world - and I am not advocating that in this note - but we can police ourselves, and our children. We can teach those who we influence to face the problems our careless and excessive habits pose for the earth.
James noted the tendency for people to be given some truth, having a quick look at it and just as quickly putting it out of sight and forgetting about it. He likened us to a person looking into a mirror (James 1:22-24). The danger of ignoring wickedness and sin is also present within the church. Paul rebuked the Corinthian church for harboring a sinful person. The members knew what the Bible spelled out as sin and evil, but they did not take any action against a man in the church who was much more immoral than the heathen (I Cor. 5:1-5).
Opportunities to act in a godly manner towards our fellow man and towards God abound. It is pretty well a natural thing to avoid thorns and thistles, but they are sometimes imposed upon us. Most people just want to live in peace, take care of their family and have enough with which to be content. They avoid situations that might destroy their inner calm. Although this trait is not a problem of and by itself, there is always the danger that an often repeated act begins to become a habit. We can form the habit of shying away from challenges and avoiding the tough decisions life demands. We tend to take the easiest route and not realize that that way often leads to the greatest danger and greater trouble. Jesus said the broad and easy way leads to death (Matt. 7:13). The way to life - be that during our time here on earth, or the eternal life God promises - is narrow and difficult with only few who find it. Those few are the ones who do not ignore hills that seem hard to climb and things that seem wrong. They learn the difference between the holy and the profane, the good and evil - and then put all of their efforts into choosing the good and the holy - even if it costs blood. All who climb hills know that climbing develops our muscle strength, sense of balance and patience. We are better for making the effort to reach the heights. Paul tells us to resist sin even if it costs us blood (Heb. 12:4). He told us that there would be rough times and challenges, but unless we pursue peace and holiness, we will not see God (Heb. 12:14). He goes on to warn about the root of bitterness. In a garden, weeds grow until they sap the strength of the rest of the plants. Good gardeners realize that if weeds are attacked when they are small, they are far easier to handle. Ignoring weeds is no help to the garden. We need to end the thought pattern that believes ignoring a problem or bad habit will give it time to go away. It is our choice - weed when we see weeds, or hope they go away.