Movie companies are still trying to figure out 3D technology for films. They are doing a better job now than back when I was a kid growing up. I remember in the 1980s there was one night when one of the big television networks was going to show a 3D movie.
Even though I cannot recall now what movie it was, I still remember the efforts of the TV stations to get the required 3D glasses out to everyone. If I'm remembering correctly, our family got several pairs of glasses from cereal boxes. These were only glasses in the technical sense -- in actuality they were just a piece of cardboard with green and red "lenses."
That night, on that TV channel, you could only enjoy that one program if you were watching with the right glasses. The technology is not that complicated: one side screens out the greens and blues, while the other eyepiece screens out the reds. With both eyes working together, a 3D movie can give the impression that the images are coming out of the screen at you.
Sometimes we need to understand the Bible in a similar way. Different passages give us different perspectives needed to understand how God is working in our lives. Take the problems of suffering and evil. If you read the first three chapters of Genesis, it's pretty clear that Adam and Eve's pain and disappointment come as a result of their own decision. God created a beautiful garden for them, put them in charge, and then commanded them not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam and Eve chose poorly, and as a result they were cast out of the garden and had to live in a fallen world.
But the scriptures also give us another "lens" from which to understand pain and suffering. Take the book of Job, where the main character suffers untold devastation to his family and possessions and then, on top of everything else, gets sick himself. The Bible is very clear that Job did nothing wrong to deserve his suffering.
This is why we need both lenses in our glasses. Sometimes we suffer as a result of our own poor decisions. But at other times we suffer through no fault of our own. One of life's greatest challenges is figuring out which is which. In some cases it is obvious -- there is no doubt about the consequences of some sins. But at other times we need the discernment of others, the wisdom of God's Word, and the power of the Holy Spirit to work out if we need to change something in our lives.
All this gets especially complicated in our relationships with others. Think about the marriages represented in these two Old Testament stories. Understandably, Adam and Eve's relationship was strained forever as a result of their sin. But even Job and his wife, who were simply victims who did not cause of their suffering, quarreled as a result of the evil that surrounded them. When you are in the middle of suffering, you can't always tell what caused it. Some of you are living in the wake of your own mistakes that you have been unwilling to own up to. But others of you are blaming yourself for suffering that is actually not your fault at all. That's the nature of this broken world -- it's not easy to figure out.
The good news is that Jesus came to save us from both kinds of suffering -- that brought on by our own sins, as well as that which comes from the evil that victimizes us. Christ gave himself as a sacrifice to atone for your individual and personal sins. He also came -- and promises to come again in order to complete the work -- to heal all the ruptures and faults that evil has brought to this world. (
Check out Hebrews 1:1-4.) When Jesus Christ returns he will bring all things under his authority, and we won't need to wear glasses anymore. We'll just need to look at him.
