What is wrong with the world? And, What is your problem? Isaiah 53:6 gives us the proper diagnosis and the only cure. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
We all, and he does mean all, have gone astray. Astray from what? From our created purpose. From our divine directives. From the good, the right and the perfect. Ok, fine. I have made some mistakes – everyone has. It is not that big a deal. I will improve. I will take steps to correct my wandering. Really?
We are all like sheep. Sheep wander – and they wander by nature. Our problem is not only skin deep, it goes to the bone. It is not merely our decisions that need to change, but our very nature. We sin because we are sinners. We wander due to our fallen nature. Our self diagnosis and attempts at applying our own cure do not go deep enough. They treat the symptoms but not the disease. “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks” (Mathew 12:34). We sin by nature. Our hearts need to change.
But, ‘the heart wants what the heart wants.’ I have attempted to change my heart many times and failed. A leopard cannot change his spots. (See Jeremiah 13:23). That is the problem with me and it is the problem with the world. We have a sinful nature.
Well, what its he solution? Is there a solution? Thanks be to God, yes! There is a cure. “The LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isaiah 53:6). It is the blood of Christ that both forgives our sin and delivers us from its power. The free grace of God is our only hope; but it is a sure and certain hope. There is a guarantee of new life in Christ for all who will come to him. He gives us a new heart and a new nature. Jesus calls to us all, “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:10-11). “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out (John 6:37). So, come to Jesus and lay that burden down – and, change the world!