When will we heal?

If you are like me, I am fatigued to the point of exhaustion. Every day it seems we are accosted with another reason not to like one another. This group against that one. These types of people to avoid. This person to label, and on and on. And so, I ask again, “When will we heal?”

Arguably, mankind has been at one another’s throats for eons. We seem predisposed against keeping the peace whether on a small or grand scale. In my lifetime alone, there have uprisings and times of discontent, but it is different now.

Perhaps we suffer more because we know more about each other. Our lives are laid bare by our comments on social media platforms, whether for good or for bad. But the bad is terribly bad and the good is relegated to footnotes and memes.

What is worse is that we are far worse at a distance; cyberspace has given us license to spew whatever thoughts or emotions pop into our minds without the discernment to consider the consequences. And so, the most fanatical, the most hateful, and the most malevolent dominate the news cycles. Once again, reminding us of who to be at war with.

It’s not just social media sites that are riling us up, though. We are fed-up with everyone. It is seen in traffic, in check-out lines, at doctor’s offices, customer service counters, and many, many more places. We are mad at a distance and up close! Now, as has been said, “That’s the whole enchilada.” It is universal.

But why? Are we so different that we should dislike others so intensely? Most people still are in the camps of wanting to have healthy relationships, wanting to have families, wanting to pursue meaningful careers, wanting to love, so this makes most of us the same. For those who want other things, there are equally important and valid camps to pursue if it is for the greater good. The point is something else must be going on. There must be a reason why now we are so testy.

James, the half-brother of Jesus, once said, “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God.”

We have become accustomed to our rights more than our responsibilities. Instead of demanding what we have coming, we should be asking, “What can I do? How can I make this world more a place of harmony rather than division? How can I lessen suffering?” But we are not asking these questions – at least not enough.

Ask yourself this week if it is better to be at war with one another or whether it is better to consider others more important than yourself and take the appropriate responsibility to act.

Only then can we truly heal.

Kent Simmons is the pastor of Canyon Community Church in Kingman, AZ.