Panacea

     Definition:  a remedy for all disease or ills; cure-all. 2. an answer or solution for all problems or difficulties.  Isn't this what all of mankind is seeking?  I know that I've been there more often than not.  Often coming out the other side of the experience once again feeling defeated.  Solutions seem a times to be fleeting temptations.  This will produce that and other hopeful statements slip through my hands and fall down where there is no bottom.  Lost opportunities come and gone because I was waiting for the remedy or answer to all my difficulties.  Perhaps you too have fallen victim to your own expectations?  Maybe I'm not alone with these thoughts.  Not many dare to speak about these out loud.  Then once spoken the faith lasts only as long as there is still time for the expected to come true.  Many go to bed at night disillusioned by the world we live within.  Perhaps we are not looking for the right answer?  Perhaps you and I have been looking at our definition and not the correct definition.  Maybe you, like me, from time to time feel that you are outside of this panacea and that it applies only to special or good people. 
     This panacea has been sought since the beginning of time.  Our seeking something or someone that can cover it all, make everything okay, and deliver us to good times only.  Instead we find that panacea doesn't exist or exists but is impossible to be encompassed by our small and biased minds.  Perhaps.  Remedies and answers or solutions don't come because of our lack of belief.  Our need for panacea won't lead us to the right answer.  That will only lead us to desperation and disillusionment.  Where can we stand with this word that makes sense.  We can stand in faith that God can bring about the remedy or solutions we so desperately seek either for ourselves or someone we care about.  Something our finite brains cannot wrap our minds around due to the finite world we live in.  The panacea outlined in the definition is beyond our capacity to know.  The "all"  "cure-all" and "answer or solution for all problems or difficulties" are absolute concepts in a world that we cannot attain the absolute for.  What do we know?
     We only know what we think about and exercise.  For the most part our only venture into the world of the absolute comes when we are convinced about and saved from the world and ourselves.  Jesus was and is the panacea for not only our world but all the people in this world.  Jesus, on earth, displayed the whole picture by not just recognizing something was wrong but by putting what was wrong back into a "right" place.  He did ministry from point A to point Z not skipping any along the way.  When he spoke, the world in which he spoke righted itself in accordance with His will.  There was no class where you would come back tomorrow to see the next step.  For Jesus there was only one step.  One step in hearing, one step in seeing and one step in doing the word of God.  The world no longer had to read the directions before assembling (or not) some piece of furniture or toy.  We have all tossed away the "extra" bolts, nuts, or nails never finding out why they existed at all.  The panacea did not apply to this world either. 
     So, why even have the word?  Should we find out that there is no panacea should we once again go through a lesson in futility?  The ideal has been put before us only to remain a reminder of what we cannot do, cannot speak and cannot identify.  Because we only need one panacea our world can be complete.  Jesus came to be the panacea we needed to have a sense of purpose.  Panacea was something the Israelites sought for, the disciples followed and conveyed to their world and the very fabric of our belief in Jesus.  Belief that we can have all that God has said we could have.  Panacea is, for me, the central part of my belief regarding God and what he has for my life.  What needs to be established is faith that can encompass panacea in God through me to mankind.  I'm powerless to convey panacea on my own.  Absolutes bring about expectations.  We should be careful of the use of any absolutes.  Unless the absolute is attached to God who can bring about panacea in our lives.  When we can say, "I know Jesus lives." we are putting forth the panacea both we and our world need.  When we can say, "I believe that Jesus forgives." panacea again is offered like water to a thirsty soul.  In the end we are able to say, "God is." and need nothing more.  Life will be.