"We have entered a time when ... people ... are awakening to the call ... to ... transform ourselves into wholesome, healthy, balanced, collective human beings ..."

Sounds good, doesn't it? The statement, made in last week's Edmonton Journal, is no doubt well-intentioned. Who among us does not want an end to all that is unwholesome, unhealthy, and imbalanced in our lives? The writer of the article in the Journal goes on to say that utopia is possible by simply knowing ourselves, by engaging in "self-realization" and becoming "masters of our own well-being." She says that the essence of spiritual belief is "Know yourself."

I beg to differ. The essence of my belief is Know your God. Christianity is not about self-focus but about God-focus. We cannot truly know ourselves without God. We cannot transform ourselves without God. We cannot make a difference in our world, neither local nor global, without God. We cannot do it on our own. History has proven it. History will continue to prove it. Until mankind turns to God, acknowledges the sin that separates us from Him and seeks His forgiveness, we will continue to live with the corruption we have created.

The CBC carried a special documentary last week, marking the tenth anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda. A doctor who lived through the horror remembered the flowing blood and his own helplessness. He returned to the villages to find that a recent discovery had been made. Those being tried for the atrocities had given the location of a burial site. The doctor stood among the mummified, mutilated bodies of men, women and children. He stood with a backdrop of human skulls and said he wanted his students to see this. He wanted them to know about it so that somehow a way could be found to prevent it from ever happening again. Self-realization won't do it. Making ourselves our own masters won't do it. I think that doctor, standing in the midst of such horrific proof, would agree.

The true good news is that there is a way. God made a promise to the people of Israel that still holds true today ? "... if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." (2Chron.7:14)

If we look inside ourselves for salvation we will only be bitterly disappointed. We must look to God.

Marcia Laycock is a pastor's wife and freelance writer living in Alberta Canada.  Her devotional book, The Spur of the Moment has been endorsed by Janette Oke, Phil Callaway and others.  To order, and to view more of Marcia's writing, see her web site - www.vinemarc.com
Copyright Marcia Lee Laycock, 2000, 2001,2002,2003,2004