A life of peace and joy, that’s the kind of life I want to live; a life without worries and troubles. The American dream sounds like such a great idea; a big house with a big yard, a nice car in the drive-way, and a perfectly happy family. Now, let’s go back to reality and see where we really are. Some of you are pursuing home-ownership and some have nice cars. Yet, how about having a happy, joyous, peaceful family? Turmoil in our lives comes and goes. We struggle to make sure that we can pay the bills and still have money left over for groceries and gas to get to work next week. The real trouble comes from the inside of our lives. The emptiness felt in a once passionately burning marriage. The joy of having children has turned into a daily dread of dragging them out of bed. The excitement of finding a place to live together, going to college, graduation, and so many other events in life has become little more than bumps in the past. Although important parts of our lives, they just don’t deliver the kind on the “American dream.” All those things we look forward to have some how failed.
This is where you start looking for the answer. You begin digging around in your own life looking for the hope and joy of years past. You aren’t alone in this struggle. You are not the first and will not be the last person to struggle with trying to find that one thing that will make this life more than just an everyday survival test. John the Baptist had been placed in prison with no hope of ever getting out. He had offended the ruler of the province in which he lived. He sent a message to Jesus Christ, “Are You the Expected One or shall we look for someone else?” Is Christ the one we need or should we look somewhere else. Well, let’s look and compare Christ to the answers this world has to offer.
Hinduism – I have to do it myself; no one can help
Skit: One Bill too Many
Setting: Man sitting at Table checking mail
Characters: Husband, Wife, and Children
Husband begins opening bills. Kids play within hearing distance. Wife sits down at table with husband.
Husband: “Another day, another set of bills to pay. The car payment is overdue. Great, now they are raising our mortgage rates. What’s this? Tear open an envelope. Six hundred dollars!! How can we afford to pay this electric bill?!
Wife: “I don’t know, maybe one of us will have to get a second job.”
Husband: “Oh, so now I have to get another job just so you can have money to spend. I am already putting in overtime at the factory as it is. How much more do you want?”
Wife: “Fine, I’ll just do it myself. It’s not like anyone’s gonna help anyway.”
Husband: “If you would quit spending money on the salon then maybe we could afford the bills.”
Wife stomps away past the kids in anger. The kids look at their mom and then their dad not knowing what to do.
Husband: “Great, now I have to deal with this. I’ll just do it myself and put more hours in.”
No peace exists in that home. Each spouse dreadfully seeks out how they can make sure to get the bills paid. The conflict is too much and soon anger erupts into mean and hateful comments. The parents then may very well turn on the kids and say mean and hateful things to the kids as well. Yet, this is basically the first place we begin looking when trying to find the answer, key, to living an incredible life. Hinduism teaches this very thought process. To get to what they call heaven, you have to live and act perfectly. It is all on you to do everything. If you do bad, you will be reincarnated to live your life again until you get it right. You have to do it yourself.
Have you ever felt that way, as if you were all alone and on your own? “The only person I can rely on is myself and no one else.” Yet, you spend your nights almost begging for something more, for someone else to become a part of your life. Someone or something that can really make a difference in the way you feel and the way you live. This is what the world teaches us. Self-reliance is the only way to go. Only you can get yourself promoted to the top of the company. Only you can deal with the problems in your life. Only you… at least that is what the world teaches and if you are really honest you will admit that it leaves you feeling empty, frustrated, and unhappy. “Shall we look for someone else?”
Buddhism – Think it through/deal with it (pain/suffering)
Skit: Hopeless
Setting: Person sitting in Chair, slumped down
Characters: One person, male or female – wife from last scene
Character sits in chair to do monologue with audience watching.
Wife: “What now? Answer phone. Yes. No, I don’t feel like coming tonight. Bye. Hang up phone. Everyone wants me to do something. I just need to be alone and think things through. Now the church is calling and asking if I can make dessert for the Wednesday night service. Trail off as if into your own world. Begin to recall the mornings fight with husband.
Wife: “Why did he have to get so angry? I am the one who has to get the kids out of bed and ready for school in time for the bus. I have to make sure the house is clean and everyone has food to eat. All he has to do is go to work and come home. When he does get home, he sits in front of that stupid television and watches football. I am the one who should be angry. How are we going to pay that bill? Look at the clock. Oh, no. I am gonna be late again. Rush off stage with purse in tow.
She can’t keep from running the scene in her head over and over again. The fight they had this morning. The bill she couldn’t pay. Her husband promised her a better life than this. He promised she wouldn’t have to work and here she is again. He promised to provide for her and love her and yet he deeply hurt her that day. She kept thinking about it hoping that she would find an answer. All couples fight, don’t they? They would grow from this she hoped. Buddhism teaches this to the world. Buddhism says that you must meditate and think deeply about subjects until you find peace in the pain and suffering. If you just dwell on the struggles of life, you can overcome them and find peace in your suffering. Only then can you return to nothingness and have no pain.
Honestly, continually thinking about the problems we face, especially with other people, never really works to anyone’s advantage. The encounter these two had may hit home closer than you would like. You first begin by trying to find the answer yourself and then you begin to dwell on the fight and how “unfair” it had been to you. The more you remember it, the angrier and more upset you get until you are about to burst. You try to think it through and just deal with the pain by stuffing it down deep inside but as soon as you see that other person, it all comes out. Sometimes, it comes out on your children and they feel unloved, hurt, worthless, and stupid. All because we think that we can think ourselves through the troubles in our lives. We can do it. We can come up with the answer if we just keep working through it. Yet, we come up short. Be honest. Thinking the problem just doesn’t work. “Shall we look for someone else?”
Jesus Christ – The Expected One
We do so many things trying to find the answers ourselves. We want to fix the problems in our marriages, with our children, with our jobs, etc. We fight, bicker, and treat each other wrongfully as we pursue independence and our dreams of how we want to live. Maybe you aren’t arguing about finances but about who does which chores around the house. Maybe you are arguing because you feel that you aren’t getting everything you deserve out of your spouse. They probably feel the same way you do. The world teaches us so many horrible methods of dealing with life and all the while it promises to deliver us the best in this life. John asks Jesus, “Are you the Expected One or shall we look somewhere else?”
We continually try to keep using the same set of keys to open up the life we have always wanted and seem to never realize that we picked up the wrong keys. This would be like grabbing Mayah’s baby keys and going out to start my car. I have the right idea to start the car and go somewhere but I don’t have the right keys. The keys are not in my possession and do not come from me. I cannot recreate the keys. I have to go get them from where I have left them if I every want to go somewhere in life.
You’ve tried and tried to live your life on your own steam power. You have dealt with every issue that has come your way. Yet, you are still empty, frustrated, and wondering how you will make it through next week. You have thought yourself through a hundred situations and yet every time you have come out frustrated and unhappy. Let me introduce you to the one person who can help you through it all. The entire world has been waiting since time began for one person to walk the earth and provide man with a way out. His name is Jesus Christ and He has come to save you from your failures and help you work through your struggles. He wants nothing more than to bring peace, joy, and happiness to your life, your home, your children, and your spouse. Does he take away the troubles? No. Does he teach you peace, patience, endurance, and hope? Yes.
VIDEO: Someone Is Reaching
You can have Him! Did you know that? You can have the Prince of Peace, the ruler of the universe, to help you live your life daily. You can enjoy having a wonderful relationship with Jesus Christ. Yes, you will still find yourself with bills each month and you and your spouse will not always see eye to eye. Christ can give you hope, self-worth, and wonderful guidance on how to handle your life better. He can help you better learn how to deal with your spouse when they are being a pain. The best part of all, it is absolutely and totally free from Christ. All you have to do is accept Him as Lord and Savior, confess Him as Lord, turn away from your sins, and be baptized to wash your failures away forever. You cannot clean up your life by yourself just like you cannot think away your problems. Let Jesus help you live today. Give your children and your spouse the chance at a peaceful home life. Stop trying to do it alone and accept Jesus’ help.
