I Dare You to Trust in His Promise
"Let us hold tightly to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near." Hebrews 10:23-25
In 2019, climate change overshadowed media and politics with doomsday activists claiming the world will end in about a decade or so unless people radically change their consumption behaviors. Thus, the burning of fossil fuels must be drastically reduced to hold the world temperature at its already warm rate. Greta Thunberg's "How dare you!" is still reverberating through the internet.
On the other hand, anthropogenic climate change deniers adamantly assert that the earth is too big and the other climate factors too prolific to reduce global warming to one major cause. After all, the nineteen seventies heard alarms of global cooling and a possible ice age. Now the community has reversed its claim. We ain't getting colder; we're getting warmer! For all humanity knows, another cooling spell will arrive and the alarmists will bury their extinction clocks in shame.
Nonetheless, our world is getting more polluted as human population rises. I don't find a lot of people denying this fact with the observable evidence in our landfills and oceans. The earth only has a finite carrying capacity as any good Science 10 Ecology Unit will teach you. We will probably run out of resources to feed (and water) the world. Or some crazy pandemic will swept through the continents like wild fire as a natural way to cull humanity's numbers.
Not the hopeful New Year's Eve blog post you were searching for?
The world is experiencing an existential crisis. What is the meaning of our existence on earth? Is our species meant to inhabit this blue planet forever? Are our days numbered to a few decades because of the way we have pillaged precious resources to support our indulgences? What will we have to sacrifice to live in harmony with the biomass below our dominant position on the ecological pyramid?
Without God, humanity's future is in humanity's hands. History has illustrated that we do not possess the best track record in solving problems. While advances in technology have increased our life span dramatically, we have overrun our planet and still struggle to get along as a species. We lie, cheat, murder and hate while claiming our righteousness, our progressiveness, our views are better than others.
What if for a moment we all realized we are finite beings created by an infinite reality? What if we believed that infinite reality could be known? What if this Being who wished to know us was perfectly good, loving and just? What if He was the source of all knowledge, wisdom and truth? What if this Being -- or God -- made a way for us to enter a relationship with Him through a unique bridge between His perfect dimension and our flawed 3-D reality? What if this bridge was Jesus, a man who walked this earth two millennia ago and mysteriously disappeared (or resurrected)? What if?
If it were true, we would hold tightly to this hope. This Being can be trusted to keep His promise! We would motivate one another to acts of love and good works. We would do our part to reduce suffering in our world out of love for God. We would not neglect meeting with other like minded believers so we could encourage one another. We would also realized that God is coming back one day to take us home.
Yes, this world does have a carrying capacity. Yes, this world will come to an end. But maybe not in the way we expect or in the year that humans predict. God does know. I find this incredibly comforting. The alarmists and deniers are not persuading Him one way or another. I choose to hold tightly to Him. I dare you to trust in His promise.
In 2019, climate change overshadowed media and politics with doomsday activists claiming the world will end in about a decade or so unless people radically change their consumption behaviors. Thus, the burning of fossil fuels must be drastically reduced to hold the world temperature at its already warm rate. Greta Thunberg's "How dare you!" is still reverberating through the internet.
On the other hand, anthropogenic climate change deniers adamantly assert that the earth is too big and the other climate factors too prolific to reduce global warming to one major cause. After all, the nineteen seventies heard alarms of global cooling and a possible ice age. Now the community has reversed its claim. We ain't getting colder; we're getting warmer! For all humanity knows, another cooling spell will arrive and the alarmists will bury their extinction clocks in shame.
Nonetheless, our world is getting more polluted as human population rises. I don't find a lot of people denying this fact with the observable evidence in our landfills and oceans. The earth only has a finite carrying capacity as any good Science 10 Ecology Unit will teach you. We will probably run out of resources to feed (and water) the world. Or some crazy pandemic will swept through the continents like wild fire as a natural way to cull humanity's numbers.
Not the hopeful New Year's Eve blog post you were searching for?
The world is experiencing an existential crisis. What is the meaning of our existence on earth? Is our species meant to inhabit this blue planet forever? Are our days numbered to a few decades because of the way we have pillaged precious resources to support our indulgences? What will we have to sacrifice to live in harmony with the biomass below our dominant position on the ecological pyramid?
Without God, humanity's future is in humanity's hands. History has illustrated that we do not possess the best track record in solving problems. While advances in technology have increased our life span dramatically, we have overrun our planet and still struggle to get along as a species. We lie, cheat, murder and hate while claiming our righteousness, our progressiveness, our views are better than others.
What if for a moment we all realized we are finite beings created by an infinite reality? What if we believed that infinite reality could be known? What if this Being who wished to know us was perfectly good, loving and just? What if He was the source of all knowledge, wisdom and truth? What if this Being -- or God -- made a way for us to enter a relationship with Him through a unique bridge between His perfect dimension and our flawed 3-D reality? What if this bridge was Jesus, a man who walked this earth two millennia ago and mysteriously disappeared (or resurrected)? What if?
If it were true, we would hold tightly to this hope. This Being can be trusted to keep His promise! We would motivate one another to acts of love and good works. We would do our part to reduce suffering in our world out of love for God. We would not neglect meeting with other like minded believers so we could encourage one another. We would also realized that God is coming back one day to take us home.
Yes, this world does have a carrying capacity. Yes, this world will come to an end. But maybe not in the way we expect or in the year that humans predict. God does know. I find this incredibly comforting. The alarmists and deniers are not persuading Him one way or another. I choose to hold tightly to Him. I dare you to trust in His promise.