Right Answer/Real Answer

I spend a lot of time on this blog writing about the right answer. Oh, I don't use that term, but that's what I'm doing. I try to recognize what is true and expound on it. I'll explain what it is, why it is, and why you should agree. I'll tell you where I got it and where you should go with it. It's the right answer.

The truth, however, is that there are often two answers to many human questions. One is the right answer and the other is the real answer. That whole series on suffering and God's Sovereignty was a prime example. I spent days explaining that God is good and God is Sovereign so all that happens is good. I told you how suffering is one of God's tools and He uses it for His good purposes and that's good. That is all the right answer. So ... what happens when I suffer? Well, the right answer would be that I rejoice, that I count it all joy when I encounter various trials. The right answer would be that I would see that God was at work and would work it all for good. The right answer would be that I would respond with gratitude. That, of course, isn't (always) the real answer.

We humans suffer from a sin nature. As such, we are fully capable of recognizing the truth and failing to act on it. Like Paul's problem with sin in Romans 7, we know what is right and we know the truth, but the sin nature in us obscures our vision and we lose sight of the truth. All that stuff I wrote, for instance, was, I believe, true, but would it really be of benefit to, say, a mother who lost her newborn to SIDS to counsel her, "God is sovereign and will use this for good"? It is true, but it doesn't address her very human, very understandable grief. The right answer is "God works all things together for good", but the real answer is "I see that you're in pain and I'm here for you." Later, as the edge comes off, it is possible to point to truth.

We know, for instance, that sexual immorality is a sin. And too many Christians commit it. Ask them, "Is that act a sin?" and they'd certainly agree that it is. But they did it. You see, we have a right answer -- the truth -- and the real answer -- our experience.

The goal, then, is to "grow up into salvation" (1 Peter 2:2). Paul says that we have been made perfect. Then he says that we need to "hold true to what we have attained" (Phil 3:16). It is a process, called sanctification. It is a lifelong effort of being transformed by the renewing of the mind. And as we mature in Christ, the distance between the right answer and the real answer diminishes until the two are the same. That is the goal. "I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Phil 3:14).