Lakeland Seventh-day Adventist Church

What would be required to end suffering and injustice in our world? Can any of us accomplish it? Can we even stop making the problem worse?

All of us contribute in some way to the pain and injustice in our world. Ending suffering requires that we eliminate things that cause pain and injustice. Since there is no point to a perfect world unless we get to live in it, none of us would agree to eliminate the causes of pain and injustice if that included eliminating us.

What makes us treat others unfairly and cause them pain? Often we do it without even thinking about it. The root cause is that we love ourselves more than others. We are naturally willing to sacrifice some of the rights and feelings of others to get what we want. As long as we have a me-first attitude, we will continue to cause suffering in the world.

Can we get rid of our me-first attitude? Unfortunately, it is so much a part of us that we cannot escape it on our own. You see, if the reason I want to get rid of my me-first attitude is that I want to live in a perfect world, I am still putting myself first. We cannot create a perfect world because it is against our nature.

Texts this message is based on:

Romans 7; 8

Jeremiah 13:23

Hebrews 4:12

I John 4:19