What in the world is going on?

What in the world is going on? Sorrow upon sorrow, it seems like every place we look in the world something terrible is going on. Hurricanes, floods, earthquakes and other natural disasters are happening worldwide. Terror in many forms is seemingly on every corner of the world. In the last two weeks, individual terrorist attacks with vehicles have occurred in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Magdeburg, Germany. School shootings are happening worldwide at unprecedented rates, especially here in the United States. Various wars of different scales are going on across the globe. According to the Global Peace Index there are currently 56 countries engaged in military conflicts. Those 56 countries in conflict does not include other countries aiding these combatants with financial or other types of military support, such as the United States support of Ukraine. This is the highest number of countries engaged in conflict since World War II. Death and the fear of death is at hand everywhere we turn.

Fear is rampant and rightly should be. According to the World Health Organization, one in every eight people in the world live with some type of mental disorder. Mental disorders including anxiety (fear), depression, PTSD, as well as eating disorders, addictions and of course schizophrenia and bipolar disorders. Sometimes people make light of these disorders out of ignorance or from their own fear. However, all of these ailments can have serious repercussions on both the ailing and their acquaintances.

I suspect due to the stigma associated with any type of mental disorder, that the actual number of sufferers are significantly higher. Mental disorders are serious and nothing to be made fun of. Having suffered with anxiety (fear) and the resulting depression myself, I can attest to the unpleasant effects of at least those two disorders. Let me encourage anyone experiencing any type of mental issue to seek help and don’t stop seeking help until you find it.

One would think that a professing Christian would be immune to mental disorders, especially anxiety, also known as fear. One would be wrong. Just as Christians are not immune to other types of sickness, like the flu, heart attacks or even death, we are not immune to mental disorders. Christians are definitely not immune to the fear that undoubtedly accompanies all mental problems. Where has this spirit of fear come from? So, again I ask, what in the world is going on?

Sin is what is going on. Bet I just lost some readers with that one little word and short statement. Sin, however, is what is going on. Sin and its consequences are the root of all the world’s problems. Death, idolatry, lying, stealing, cheating, envy, lust, terror, fear are all the results of sin. The spirit of fear is typified by the uncertainties of death. The consequences of Adam and Eve’s failure in the garden, plus all of God’s law are neatly summed up in this one statement “For the wages of sin is death.”

In an upside-down uncertain world full of fear, where can a person turn? I’m glad in God’s amazing grace that He didn’t just leave us in fear with our payday of death. I am glad that God, rather than leaving us to the fear of death, made us a way out. I’m glad God completed what Adam and Eve could not do. I am glad God completed the one statement quoted in the previous paragraph:

Romans 6:23 KJV
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

One more thing:
“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7 KJV