October 21, 2024 / Don’t abandon the Solution for the fix

10.21.24

 Hey, Calvary Fremont –

 I don’t know exactly when it happened, but America has driven herself off the cliff. We have ignored all the speed limit signs, lane markings, posted warnings, and the erected barriers. We have launched ourselves into the midair of national freefall. Here is one indication…

 #1 We are no longer seeking for solutions as much as we are looking for fixes.

 Instead of advocating for and seeking to nurture a culture where sexual intimacy is confined to marriage and childbearing takes place within the context of marriage, we are trying to fix all the problems that arise from a highly sexualized culture. Instead of nurturing a moral vision of sexuality, we provide abortion for an unwanted pregnancy. Abortion is a fix, not a solution. Abortion is not a solution in that it causes further problems that call for a solution, but will only get a fix. Abortion produces guilt and shame in the woman getting an abortion. The solution for this is repentance and confession and the seeking of forgiveness. Yet the fix provided by the culture is that you have nothing to feel guilty and shameful about. This fix denies the humanity and personhood of the baby in the womb. It is a fetus, a POC – Product of Conception – a blob of tissue. It has no humanity, no individuality, no personality. These mental gymnastics lead to denial and rationalization which results in depression. The solution for this is repentance and confession and the seeking of forgiveness. But the fix for this is drugs and alcohol to numb the pain of guilt and shame and denial and depression. Yikes!! The fix isn’t a fix – the fix is a further problem that needs a solution. This is the ugly backside of abortion.

 The solution for drug addiction is repentance, confession, and rehab. The fix is clean needle programs. Which, obviously, don’t solve the problem of addiction.

 The solution for theft is repentance, confession, and seeking forgiveness. The fix is putting a $950 limit on what someone can steal! This fix breaks people even further. This fix needs fixing!

 And don’t look to Washington. Politicians are not solvers, they are fixers. Government only has fixes, no solutions. “O, God, give us Solvers and not Fixers.” Washington loves to fix things by raising taxes. More money is not a solution for the moral crisis we are in – it’s a fix that doesn’t fix. Someone has said that politicians look to the next election whereas statesmen look to the next generation. We have no statesmen in Washington. We have no one who sees that the current trajectory of policies and the patterns of current governance are not solutions, but fixes that will only lead to more brokenness calling for solutions, but only getting more fixes.

 A fix is more attractive than a solution because a solution costs too much. Many would rather live without sexual restraint than live in moral purity. The drug addict prefers a clean needle to the need for no needle at all. The thief prefers to steal less than $950 worth of merchandise than to work with his/her own hands. The solution is more costly than the fix – or so we think.

 Jesus asked: What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? What does it profit a person to gain short-term satisfaction via a fix versus long-term satisfaction via a solution? (Which points to another problem with the national soul – we don’t think long-term, only short-term.) Faith in Jesus Christ is the solution to the problem of the lack of moral restraint, the problem of surrender to mood and mind altering drugs, and the problem of lack of contentment that gives birth to the thief. Christians – don’t abandon the Solution for the fix which fixes nothing. Jesus is the answer for the world today, besides Him there’s no other, Jesus is the way!

 Be blessed and stay healthy and follow Jesus – Pastor Tim