Will you start a Revolution? Part 2

This world is daily seeing suffering at the hands of corrupt people. Where did this corruption start? and who is to blame? This weeks blog is going to look at the root cause as to why corruption continues to corrode our society and what we can do about it.

Withholding the cure.
I read a story of a man who had compassion towards peoples suffering and went on a mission to take inexpensive medication for dying populations in the developing world. The medication costs about 20p per bottle to make and each bottle had enough for 200 doses. The medication reduces a babies chance of contracting HIV by 90% as long as they get the dose within 48hours of birth. The man donates this medication to doctors in developing countries that are badly affected. But major brand name pharmaceutical companies have tried to stop him from distributing the medication because it would violate the companies intellectual property rights, In other words the company would not make big profits. In their defence the pharmaceutical companies say that they need the profit to reinvest for more scientific research and the money they loose from developing countries would hinder their efforts.

There have been a few laws passed within the international community that have made it possible to provide medication for people who are helplessly suffering. Sadly these laws have been hindered by the pharmaceuticals with countless law suits. Now we have a situation where millions are dying, not because there is no cure but because people do not want to loose money even though these companies make more than enough to sustain themselves in the western world.

So who is to blame?
Some might say, well its the governments fault or the greedy corporations fault, others would question why God does not intervene, is it his fault? To find the answer we have to go back to Genesis chapter 3. Adam and eve where influenced by Satan to disobey Gods commandment. As a result of rebelling against God and following Satan they became corrupted by sin.

This sinful nature has now been passed down from generation to generation meaning that everyone is born sinful. We don’t start out as good then become bad, we actually start out corrupted. Like a snake has venom in its system that’s how we have sin in our system. Psalms 51:5 says “I was born a sinner - yes from the moment my mother conceived me”

What is sin? 
Sin is the deliberate disobedience to the known will of God and we are all guilty of going against Gods will. We find God’s will by looking into the word, Jesus says, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”Matthew 22:34. So when we love God we do our best to please him by trying to follow his commandments, we don’t steal, lie, hate, lust after woman, etc. When we love our neighbor as we love our selves, we don’t hurt our neighbors by our actions. We don’t let innocent people die because of our greed.

But I am not as bad as those corrupt politicians.
According to Psalms 14:3 “All have turned away; all have become corrupt. No one does good, not a single one!”. If we are faithful at committing sin in the small things we will be faithful at committing sin in the big things too. In God’s eye’s sin is sin and he judges accordingly, Jeremiah 17:9-10 “The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.”

The story of the pharmaceuticals is an example a broken system caused by a broken people. Before we all begin to pass blame or complain we need to realise we are also broken people contributing to a broken world, we need to deal with the root cause before we can start to influence real change. The root of the corruption is in the heart. Jesus says in Luke 6:45 “A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart.”

Jesus says “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:3-5.

My plank
I recently borrowed money from a close friend and he has not asked for the money back, but I know I have the money and can pay him back but I have not paid him back. If it was the other way around I would be so upset If I didn’t get my money back. Most of the reason I have not paid them back is not because I have no money or I’m struggling but Its procrastination and greed. If I was the pharmaceutical company would I withhold help from others ? Over time I would say yes because as I continue to ignore my concious I will become even more corrupt and greedy to the point where I would not care about people who die. It is possible, so many people become corrupt through rebellion to Gods still small voice speaking. As a result of my actions my friend would probably not borrow money to anyone else again. (notice the cycle?)

How do we change ?
How often have we with held good from those whom we have the power to help ? This could be due to jealousy, un-forgiveness, greed etc. How many times have we borrowed money and when it came to paying it back we didn’t do so? Proverbs 3:27-28 tells us “Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act. Do not say to your neighbour, “Come back later; I’ll give it tomorrow” when you now have it with you.”

Heart Surgery
If you are a not a Christian it starts with committing your life to God and he promises to give you a new heart and a new mind and from that new heart you will be guided by his spirit to the right way. Now as Christians we are not excluded from sin, though we don’t have a sinful nature anymore we still sin and so we need to do a regular heart check. Ask God to search your heart, Psalms 139:23-24 says “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.” Psalms 19:13-14 “Keep your servant from deliberate sins! Don’t let them control me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you”

Ask your self, Have I been guilty of corruption in my life, this could include greed or waste? Have I had the ability to help someone but decided not to? Do I blame others when things go wrong ? Do I hold things in my heart that God would be offended by eg: bitterness, lust etc. As Christians we need to continually have a repentant nature and seek God to clean our hearts but this will involve spending time in the quiet of the day and contemplating. Tune in next week, Friday 6th March for part 3 in the Revolution series titled “Fighting the wind!”, I will be speaking about how we can fight against corruption in our society with an eternal perspective.