THE SCRIPTURE
“These things I have spoken unto you, that in me you might have
peace. In this world you will have
tribulation (trouble), but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world!!!” –
The Gospel of St. John, 16:33
APPLICATION
Upon reading the news recently, we can easily see that the world is
in complete chaos. Last month, in the
first week of the New Year, terrorism struck Paris through the “Charlie Hebdo”
shooting massacre and subsequent hostage takings days after. On a lesser scale, we heard that 2,000
people were massacred by Boko Haram in Nigeria, and the ongoing ISIS
persecutions among Christians in the Middle East.
These are the days where if there isn’t a time to consider things
that are worth eternal value, it is NOW.
Upon what has happened in the beginning of the year, I decided for
myself that I am going to read completely one of the most misunderstood,
difficult, yet hopeful books of the New Testament. It even provides a blessing to those who
read and heed its timely message. That
book is the book of Revelation.
In the midst of death, killings, evil and suffering, what I saw
through the book of Revelation is that God is in control of the world and its
affairs. His justice and truth will be
served once and for all and he will have the final say in the affairs of the
world. In spite of the hell that is in
the world, for those that put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, there lies
a great hope, peace and comfort that the world couldn’t take away. For those that don’t believe, I have a great
concern because their future isn’t secure in the things of God and eternal
matters.
Mankind has to realize that in this world, we are spiritual beings
destined for an eternal experience. For
those that believe in Christ, when we suffer, it is only temporary, and we are
one step closer to achieving eternal inheritance (see Romans 8:18). For the non-believer, they may prosper,
live well, and feel like they own the world, but deep down inside their
spiritual bankruptcy is evident (see Mark 8:36).
I want to close this reflection by uttering an old saying: There is a choice to be made. You
either live once, or die twice, or you can die once and live twice.
You may perceive the world as being in complete chaos and this may appeal to your Messianic world view (that this world is "temporary" and can only be saved by the Messiah. It's something to "get through" on the way to the eternal life) but objectively we are doing better on some scales than ever before. See the link to Stephen Pinker's TED talk on world violence levels http://www.ted.com/talks/steven_pinker_on_the_myth_of_violence?language=en
ReplyDeleteEven if I were a believer I would think that god would be judging us on how well we looked after his carefully wrought planet and all of the wonderful creatures in it (including each other) and would be rather less interested in our diet, our sex life, how much or how we praise him or other doctrinal hair-splitting.
Indeed, we DO have a choice - whether we work hard to give meaning to this life by choosing to make it better for all or whether we place our lives in the hands of god, endure the hell that is in this world and wait to die.
RJ- on whose scales are we doing better?
ReplyDeleteVery profound Richard....very profound.
ReplyDelete