LIVING WITH UNCERTAINTY

Most people I know are quite comfortable living in a confusing and uncertain world where one does not always have all the answers. I find myself in this position most of the time, but not always. There are times in my life when I do not like the uncertain nature about life. There are times when I want to know what is the absolute right thing to do, what is the absolute right answer.

And because I cannot separate my faith from the rest of my life, the questions always boil down to one: What is it that God would have me do in this situation? Sometimes after much thought and prayer, I know what God would have me do. Now that does not mean that I will always do it. It only means that I know beforehand what I should do. I know that I should turn the other cheek. That does not mean that I always will.

Yet there are other times in my life when I just do not know what is right, what it is that God wills, what it is I should do. I know that there are those who believe that they have a lock on the truth, that they know what it is that God wants, and that they can quote chapter and verse to prove it. And then they do. The problem is that it is not that simple. For as soon as we use scripture to back up one belief, we can't play loose with it when it comes to other situations.

If, for instance, one believes a certain action is immoral and then cites chapter and verse, one must also say that women are forbidden to talk in church, divorce is wrong and we should stone our children when they disobey us – also citing chapter and verse. We hold that war is immoral. But then, is it? They killed people by the tens of thousands, if you go by the numbers, in the Old Testament, and did so in the name of God. They, and we, were also told that we shall not kill and should turn the other cheek. We can't pick and choose our sins or have our actions be sins on one occasion and justifiable on another depending on circumstances. But we do!

That is not to say that anything goes. It does not. But it also does not allow us to state that one sin is worse than another. Yet we do. We insist that killing is worse than stealing. And even killing and stealing have their degrees of guilt. But to restate what I have said so often, difference in degree makes no difference. We are all sinners. A sin is a sin is a sin and it does not matter the sin.

What matters and what is truly important, is that we clean up our own house before we start to try to clean up someone else's. It also means that there are times when we may even be uncertain not only about what needs to be swept clean but where to begin and what to do next.

We live in a sinful and confusing world where the temptation is for the quick fix and the simple answer. There is no quick fix, at least for the great issues of our time. There is, however a very simple solution but one that is not easy to live out: love everyone all the time. We're not there yet. In the meantime, the struggle goes on. With God's love and grace we will grow stronger and better each day.