My Two Kinds of Problems

It is easy to fight a problem all your life without recognizing you are fighting the wrong thing all along. The biggest problems that face us in life are only symptoms of the real deal. In an earlier article I wrote, Marvellous Pain, I made the point that pain in itself isn’t the problem, but the sign that there is a problem. So although an analgesic can reduce a headache, the headache was only an alarm telling you something else was wrong with you.

In trying to illustrate this I need you to understand the meaning of two words – chronic and acute – as they apply to medical science, church management, or your success journey. Chronic means underlying, causal, continuing. Acute means painful, symptomatic, debilitating. All of your problems fall in one of these two.

When dealing with problems we often go for the acute because they are what we can see. We attack them headlong and return victorious – for a moment – only to fight the same things (sometimes stronger versions) over and over again. Some examples may apply; you are fighting an acute problem when you use insecticides to kill mosquitoes in your bedroom but leave a gutter filled with stagnant water in your front porch. You are fighting an acute problem when you pray in church for God to forgive your indulgence in extra-marital sex but return to watch pornography when alone. You are fighting an acute problem when you send soldiers to kill child terrorists but leave their source of funding living and working with you.

The solution to acute problems is always a temporary one and should be regarded as such. It doesn’t serve for the long term. What I suggest is that you go for the chronic problem. Go for the cause, the root, its source of life, the reason for the problem. When you take it out from the roots it is permanent. Unfortunately it isn’t easy to identify the cause from face value. Merely looking at the problem would rarely tell you the exact cause. In the next article I will be writing on how to identify the cause rather than just fighting the symptoms.