Christian Living

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To many people, troubles seem to have lately increased in the world. Satanic persecution, orchestrated by the Islamic State and Boko Haram, rightly disturbs us and hopefully moves us to action. The potential for catastrophic impact as the Ebola virus mercilessly spreads unabated in African cities, moves us, it is to be hoped, at least in sympathy. The racism, hurt, distrust, and anger uncovered in the events at Ferguson, Missouri, should pierce our hearts and spur us on to reconciliation and change. And the epidemic of children and women preyed upon by human traffickers abroad but also here in our own communities should enflame within us a will to seek justice and a desire to set right what is wrong in our world.

The truth is that all of Creation is convulsing in agony. What we are seeing is simply the physical manifestation of what has been spiritually true since the Fall in the Garden of Eden. The news that we hear and the images that we see have been there all along in the eternal realm but, for some of us, are only now beginning to really catch our attention, forcing us to abandon our tendency to focus on the material realm over and beyond the spiritual.

Consider well that in the beginning of time, we were given both the gift of fellowship with the El Shaddai (God Almighty) and lordship under Him over all Creation. In that time, there was still a prevailing sense of serenity and peace since open hostilities did not yet exist between Creation and Creator. When the Lord walked in the garden, humanity could hear and recognize His voice.

“When I look at Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You care for him? Yet You have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet” (Psalm 8:3-6 ESV).

We were not merely formed from the dust and then put to work as lowly slaves, but were given rank and honor as children indeed, with purpose and provision to fulfill that purpose for the glory of God and for the mutual pleasure of God and ourselves.

But when humanity turned its back upon the divine invitation offered by the Holy and Majestic One, we not only forsook the amazing gift of relationship with the Father but gave up also His power and provision in ruling over that which had been entrusted to us. When our relationship with God was broken in that moment of rebellion, the toxic carcinogens of selfishness leaked into and contaminated the entire Cosmos.

The beautiful heaven and earth that a loving and awesome God had made? It was broken.

And so the whole world continues still… broken… hurting… and groaning under the weight of its massive disconnect from God. And so the human race continues still… broken and hurting, also groaning under the weight of our massive disconnect from God.

Even after all this time, with humanity still struggling today with itself, the world, and our Maker, it seems that the greatest tragedies in life are not really nestled within the face of disaster or even of painful suffering… but are instead hidden within what is too often our response to such tragedies. As devastating as these things are, they are nothing like the calamity and sorrow that they could be if no one cared and lifted a finger to help.

And what does it mean for us to really care anyway? It means only this: that we allow compassion from the Father to well up within us and saturate us so thoroughly that our hands and feet move as His would move in our place, with the character and countenance of God “oozing” out of us into the lives of others.

How desperate the hour, too! Creation LONGS for Godly lordship to be reinstated over the earth! How the Earth CRAVES for righteousness to again prevail in our activities, our actions, and our attitudes! How it YEARNS for the healing hand of God to fix what has been broken! How it wants… no, how it NEEDS to see the face of Jesus in us!

“The creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him Who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now” (Romans 8:19-22 ESV).

Truly, the world groans. The utter suffering we see and about which we hear, all too readily paint the picture of the deep and desperate need of all men and women for God’s grace to be unleashed in and through their lives.

The question then arises… what are we going to do about it? Are we to simply go on as if nothing is happening in the world around us? Do we rally our own defenses and batten down the hatches for ourselves, hoping against hope that natural disasters and personal calamities never happen to us? Do we only passively lament the trials and tribulations of others in need, clicking our tongues and shaking our heads sadly, yet never altering our steps to make a difference in the life of someone else?

God forbid! Let our hands and feet respond even now to the call of God to serve Him by serving others! Let our bodies respond to their true callings and bring Him glory by yielding themselves as instruments of His loving lordship over this planet that He has entrusted to us.

“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:5-8 ESV).

And as we kneel humbly, yet earnestly, seeking His great power and wisdom to sustain and guide us, we may count on His faithful and good promises of love, help, and guidance in the days ahead.

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to You. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid…. I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 14:27; 16:33 ESV).


Copyright © Thom Mollohan.

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