Sometimes in our walk with life we may fall into a zone that no human being can rescue us from. The doctor can prescribe a drug or the counsellor a therapy, and there still lies that vacuum or emptiness that somehow goes beyond the realm of physical remedy.

Some of the weak among us have resorted to drugs, while others soothe their pain with alcohol, gambling or some other form of abuse. The results: they get deeper into their predicament and a state of hopeless prevails.

The ideals of our society, namely to get much more money than we have, have brought much pain and anguish for a number of people. The obsession with obtaining materialistic gains at the expense of a humble, pure and meaningful life with God as the priority, has been placing some cracks in the social order of things. The institution that suffers most of all is the one ordained by God to allow human beings to grow and nurture in his image - the family.

One cannot deny that there hasn’t been a breakdown in the family when one looks at the divorce rate, and the tendency nowadays to be engaged in common law relationships, rather than getting married. Statistics have repeatedly shown that couples, who lived together before marriage, have a greater divorce rate than those that lived apart before getting married.

When couples divorce, children suffer emotionally and otherwise. It’s some of these children that end up with several challenges later in life that drugs and alcohol have dangerously provided temporary relief for. The cycle of divorce keeps repeating because we still haven’t learned our lesson, and the problems get more complex and harder to solve.

The ideals of our society don’t point people to the true and living God. Instead, they steer people away from God into a more secular environment that tells them directly and indirectly that they don’t need God. When the problems occur, the vast majority doesn’t seek Him. But how can they seek God whom they never knew anyway. There are some people who are aware of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who sent His only begotten Son, Jesus, the Christ, to die for the sins of every human being ever born. There are others who know and refuse to have anything to do with him. With the technology available today through the internet, cable and satellite television, digital radio and so on, there’s hardly any excuse not to hear the good news – the gospel of the Kingdom of God and the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Whoever earnestly seeks God will find Him.

God is a merciful God. He stands ready to hear that knock on the door from someone who’s in need of help – help that governments and the bright minds of this planet cannot provide. He says "all ye that are heaven laden, come and I will give you rest." He means it and wants to help if you surrender your life to Him and embark on a journey of repentance and taking on a new life and new ideals. In so doing, all the hopelessness and meaningless in this life will take on a new meaning. In Christ Jesus, a true friend, and our Saviour, we can put all our trust in Him that He knows best and will take care of us, whether in this life or the life to come. He’s a friend that will never fail. Some of us have friends who have failed us and this only compound many of our problems, but rest assured that when we put our hope, faith and trust in Jesus, He’ll never fail us "…lo, I’m with you always, even unto the end of the world (age)," Matt. 28:20. Indeed, what a friend we have in Jesus.

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Last modified: 10/12/2006