If you’re friends with me on Facebook, you may have noticed
that I am a social work major. I love everything about it and can’t express how
thankful I am that God led me to this major! He continues to blow me away by
how He leads me and shows me that His plan is always so much better than mine.
I am learning so much about the world we live in and about so many different
kinds of people. My eyes are being opened and my heart is being touched. I
would not want it any other way. I am being challenged to really think and do a
lot of soul-searching as I learn about the many different issues I will be
faced with and the different people I will be trying to help. Something we
talked about in class recently really stuck with me and made me think. It
prompted me to write, so here are some of the things I have been pondering.
Social work, by nature, is a helping profession. People go
into social work because they want to make a difference in the world and help
people who are in need. It’s no secret to any of us that there are plenty of
people in this world who need help. We’ve all been in a difficult situation at
some point in our lives. However, something came up in one of my classes a few
weeks ago that really caught my attention. During our lecture, a question
appeared on the screen in the midst of other things we were to take notes on: “Why
do people have problems?” It seems like a simple question, but I found that our
class was extremely quiet when the instructor voiced it. We all agree that
there are countless problems in this world. If there weren’t, there would be no
need for social workers. However, I don’t think we address this question very
often. We just accept the fact that we all have problems and never think twice
about it. Sure, we often question why something is happening when we are going
through a hard time, but we don’t typically sit around thinking deeper into the
question of why problems even exist or where they originated.
If you’re one of the very few people who do not believe that
everyone has problems, take a moment to think about it. Think about the wide
variety of problems that exist in this world. Medical problems alone are
completely mind-boggling to me. Things can go so very wrong within our bodies
even though we are made up of organs and systems that should be able to
function correctly. Yet people die every day because of things going wrong
inside their bodies. Then, there are mental illnesses that so many people deal
with and fight on a daily basis. Depression, anxiety, bipolar, schizophrenia,
Alzheimer’s, and the list goes on. It’s like our brains and our bodies are
fighting against us. What is up with that? Natural disasters. Things we have no
control over come into our world and often turn our lives upside down.
Tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards, floods, fires, and so many other things. It
seems as if the Earth is attacking itself! Poverty. There are some places in
the world that don’t even contain clean water for people to drink, much less
food for them to eat, houses for them to live in, and other things that are
important in meeting their basic needs. Relationships are broken. People get
married and then they get divorced. Spouses are unfaithful to one another.
Parents abandon their children. Families are divided and full of conflict. Do I
even need to mention politics and the never-ending scandals and controversy
that goes on there? Some people can’t make enough money to provide for their families.
Just when they think things are going well, they lose their job. Houses need
repairing, cars break down, nations are at war, children are taken advantage
of, people lie, cheat, and steal, and the list
goes on and on and on.
So, you see? Everyone has problems. The world is a crazy,
often scary, place. Has it always been this way? If you pick up and read any
book about history, you’ll find that the answer is yes. People have always had
problems. But why? Where did all of this madness start?
The answers to this question that were given in class that
day were as follows: Genetics. Cultural differences. The environment. Lack of
opportunities. And so on.
Yes, these factors can explain a lot of the problems we
face, but certainly not all of them. In one of my other classes, we were asked
the question “If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be?”
We all pretty much had different answers. This goes to show that even if we
were able to fix one or even several problems, there would always be another
one right behind. The condition of this world is out of our control.
Now, don’t accuse me of being all doom and gloom just yet. I
did choose to be a social worker, remember? I must think I can make some kind
of difference. And I plan to. However, I believe that I will only be able to
make a difference one I can answer the original question my teacher posed to
us: Why do people have problems?
Yes, people have problems because of cultural differences.
Yes, people have problems because of genetics and the fact that they have
inherited them. Yes, people have problems because of a lack of opportunities,
and, yes, people have problems because of the environment they live in. But all
of these answers have to be considered together. Not one of them is correct on
its own. I believe that there is one single answer to the fact that we have so
many problems. The answer is sin.
It is always nice to be positive, look on the bright side,
believe that there is good in the world, and hold onto hope that there are good
people in the world. Those things are good and there is truth to them. However,
we must also face the reality that this world is a messed up place. It has been
for some time now. But here’s where it gets good…there is hope! For all of us!
Before time even began, there was a God. A sovereign,
eternal Being that “hovered over the waters” as it says in Genesis 1:2. God
created a world in which everything was perfect, including humans. There were
no problems and certainly no need for social workers or many of the other
professions that exist today. Just God and His people abiding together in a
beautiful paradise. Can you imagine how wonderful that must have been? But
pretty soon, something went wrong. The humans messed up the perfection that God
had created, thus bringing a curse upon themselves. They were given the gift of
free will, and they made the decision to disobey God. From that time on, the
curse of sin has run rampant throughout creation. Humans are no longer perfect
or inherently good. We possess a sin nature that causes us to do bad things and
have bad things happen to us. And there’s absolutely nothing we can do about
it. Sounds pretty hopeless, right? Well, it’s not. I have very good news for
all of us.
There is no way for us to bring back the perfection that
originally existed. We messed that up. In fact, there is no way for us to even
have a relationship with the perfect, Sovereign God who created us. He is holy
and cannot abide with sin. So, what’s going to happen to us? Well, we’re all
going to eventually leave this earth. But we are eternal creatures, so we will
continue to live even after we die. Without a relationship with God, we’ll have
to spend eternity in Hell, which is a very, very awful place. But want to know
the awesome, wonderful, incredible news? God made a way for us to have a
relationship with Him! He knew that we were going to sin. He knew that we were
going to break our relationship with Him and that we would have no way of
fixing it. So He decided to fix it Himself. He came down to Earth in the form
of a man, Jesus Christ. He was born, lived the absolutely perfect life that we
couldn’t live, and then He died the death that we couldn’t die. He was the sacrifice
for our sin. Why would He do that? Because of the unconditional, all-consuming,
indescribable LOVE that He has for each and every one of us. And all we can do
is stand in awe of Him and believe that He is our Savior, our only way back to
a relationship with God. When we believe this, it changes everything. We now
have hope!
Unfortunately, believing in Jesus does not make our problems
go away. In fact, He tells us in John 16:33 that “in this world [we] will have
trouble.” But He goes on to tell us that He has already overcome the world.
Nothing on Earth can defeat us. We have an eternal hope!
So, now do you see why I still want to be a social worker?
It’s not hopeless! It’s actually the opposite. I realize that I will not be
able to help everyone. But, that is not my job. I’m called to help the ones who
are right in front of me. I have an advantage because I know why they have
problems. I know why I have problems. And I also know the answer to all of the
problems. I am committed to helping people with the needs they have here on
earth in the hope that I will be able to help them with their greatest need of
all, a Savior. That is the difference I want to make. Jesus came for the
broken, the outcasts, the skeptics, and the needy. He calls us to reach these
exact people. And that is what I intend to spend my life doing. I will offer
them all I have, and that is Jesus.
Really great song that goes along with this: https://youtu.be/-JKXhxFwVZc
