The Placebo Effect

The hit our culture has taken by the dismantling of absolute truth is far greater than we thought. We originally believed that it’s only target would be religion and the institutions that adhered to it.

However, it has now trickled down to places I suspect we never saw coming.

You see the fruits of the war on truth in innocent enough sounding statements…

“It’s ok it really wasn’t your fault.”

“The game was rigged against us. It was all the referees fault, or the coaches fault or the fill in the blank. Because it’s never your fault you went 0-5 with three errors.”

“These test just don’t take into consideration my child’s unique abilities.”

“This may not work for you but I think it helps me.”

“That’s how I feel and that’s all that matters.”

Empirical truth lies slain in the street. We now routinely function socially, physically, scholastically, and spiritually as if there is no acceptable, provable norms for society.

The result? The placebo now has equal standing with the provable.

What Is the Placebo Effect?

“Sometimes a person can have a response to a placebo. The response can be positive or negative. For instance, the person’s symptoms may improve. Or the person may have what appears to be side effects from the treatment. These responses are known as the “placebo effect.”

Yes, it’s true there are some verifiable benefits to a placebo. It goes back to the whole mind over matter thing. And that works until the matter in a given case is a cancerous tumor and must be surgically removed.

We live in a world of short-lived placebos that promise great things but overtime fail to deliver substantial results.

Maybe, you have opted for a placebo like cure for your marriage. Replacing fantasy for genuine intimacy.

Perhaps, you’ve bought into a placebo like parenting plan. Replacing love and discipline for excuses and justification for bad behavior.

Maybe, your health is struggling because you thought the latest fad could replace healthy eating habits and exercise.

The root cause of all this is the assault on truth. If nothing is absolutely true than everything is true. You get to “fabricate” your truth. Creating a brand of designer truth that works for you.

The problem is your designer truth never stands up in divorce court, the laboratory, or in the house of God.

May we not be fooled and “lead astray by every wind of doctrine” Paul said.

In the end remember that you are entitled to your own opinion but not to your own Bible. And we could go on to say you are entitled to your own opinion but not to your own conclusions.

Is it Worth it to Serve Jesus?

Look at the question of the Psalmist in Psalms 73:13, “Did I purify my heart and wash my hands in innocence for nothing?”

Have you ever asked God a version of that question? Is it worth it to follow Jesus? Is it worth it to sacrifice for the cause of Christ?

Some that are reading this blog have accepted Christ as your Savior and you have been trying to live for the Lord, and it seems like everywhere you turn you have problems and conflicts and difficulties. Then you look at the wicked and the ungodly around you and they seem to prosper.

Has it ever seemed to you, for instance, that the ungodly get the best jobs? Has it ever seemed to you that perhaps the ungodly drive the biggest cars and live in the finest houses, and that somehow they don’t have the problems that God’s people seem to have?

Everything seems to go smoothly with them, and yet you are not having a very good time of it.

You may have come to the conclusion down in your heart, though you may not have put it in print like the Psalmist did, that it really is not worth it to live for the Lord. It really doesn’t pay to serve Jesus.

I want you to notice what the psalmist does. He says in Psalms 73:16, “When I tried to understand all this, it seemed hopeless.”

In other words, there are some perplexities of life which the human mind cannot deal with. There are some issues that are too painful for the human mind to contemplate.

Then he says in verse 17, “until I entered God’s sanctuary. Then I understood their destiny.”

The psalmist decides that he will go to church. He decides that in the sanctuary of God he will bring these problems before the Lord. He will go into the house of God; and in the house of God, he will look for an answer to the prosperity of the wicked, why good things happen to bad people and the persecution of the godly, why bad things happen to good people.

The reason God’s people come to His house is they want to hear what God says in His Word. They want an answer from heaven. They want some answers beyond what their own minds are able to conclude.

So this Sunday we will wrestle with this big question in the house of God, “Is it worth it serve Jesus?”