"Thou art the man" (2 Samuel 12:7).
I am recently reminded of an episode from the life of that great Christian poet and apologist, G.K. Chesteron (1874-1936). The episode occurred nearly one hundred years ago, in the uncertain period leading up to World War I.
In a series of articles The Times of London explored a compelling question. "What’s wrong with the world?" The answer was not entirely obvious.
The world would soon explode into war – and war of a kind never before seen in the history of the planet. New technologies – trench warfare, tanks, poison gas, etc. – permitted unprecedented (and horrific) efficiency on the battlefield. A tangle of international alliances, far from defusing the situation, would escalate the conflict into a "world war" on an unprecedented global scale. Diplomacy would fail. A new kind of conflict – and a frightening new kind of world – seemed to be at hand.
"What’s wrong with the world?" In one of his most memorable essays – and certainly his shortest – G.K. Chesterton replied to the editor:
"I am. Yours truly, G.K. Chesterton."
One hundred years later, Chesteron’s reply is as pithy and provocative as ever. What is wrong with the world? Is it politics – that we might repair the world by changing its political systems? Is it economics – that we might fix the world by our money? Is it access to education – that we might "get on the same page" once everyone is educated to see things as we do? Or maybe the problem is religious, as many of our Muslim friends suppose – that we might reform the world by imposing upon it a common religious system?
The problem, I am afraid, is more radical than we might have imagined. I am wrong with the world. And (if you will pardon my bluntness) so are you.
It is a pertinent insight for days such as these, and cuts to the core of the challenge before us from a Christian point of view. Our entire collective humanity is flawed. The effort to identify "what is wrong with the world," if we are honest, leads us inevitably to our own human hearts.
Chesteron’s insight should challenge us, at very least, to accept a dose of moral perspective. Nothing is entirely "black and white"; in every human heart we find varying shades of gray. The insight should remind us as well that the road to peace does not lie through Baghdad or Washington, in the end. A "regime change" is required, alright – but at a level more radical than described on the evening news. Human hearts need a new Master.
Please join me in praying for peace, and pray urgently. Pray that God would swap out regimes in human hearts everywhere. He can begin, I suppose, with yours and mine.
"The Way I See It", April 2003
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