Some Things Don't Fix
There is so much attempted reform happening right now. People in the US are reevaluating our systems, assumptions, traditions, beliefs and calling so many things into question. How do we change the police system? Should we even have a police system? How do we acknowledge our history while refraining from elevating evil ideas?How do we honor good people who did good things but had fatal flaws? How do we fix a polarized political system? How do we live in peace with each other while holding widely divergent beliefs? How do we promote a working economy and protect vulnerable people (both medically and economically vulnerable)? How do we facilitate a free press and access to necessary news while wrestling with sensationalist media and bias?
Some of it will get fixed, Lord willing and with His Holy Spirit. And some of it won’t get fixed, at least not in our lifetimes. This will be hard. Beth Moore posted this on Instagram this week: “No greater challenge exists in the human experience than accepting the reality that some things don’t fix. It may well be that, when all is said and done and our life stories are penned to their final paragraph, the thickest part of the plot was what we did with what was broken.”
Being salt and light in the world, bringing the kingdom of heaven to earth, living out redemption, and working toward “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10) all mean that we are working toward getting this stuff fixed. We, the Christians, are working toward the solutions. That’s our job (though God does the work and the changing).
But some of it won’t get fixed because this is a fallen world. And learning to live in and with the things that “don’t fix” may break us, or it may redeem us. Can you find a way to live in a broken system? Can you thrive and triumph when you don’t “win”?
Yes, you can – with Jesus. Because He did. He lived in a broken world and wasn’t able to change it all – the broken world killed Him. He still triumphed, but He died to do it. Is that a success/failure paradox? Yes. And we can live in that same paradox: living out the kingdom and bringing it to earth, but knowing it won’t all get done here until Christ comes back.
So what we do with what is broken is important. It’s God’s work here on earth. But know that “some things don’t fix” – YET.
