Have you noticed how all of life is a battle with the 2nd law of thermodynamics? To put it in non-scientific terms, everything in life is going downhill.
You probably have noticed this with your car. Whether you buy a new one or a certified used car, before you know it, you are paying repair bills that never stop. Or take your house where the upkeep and maintenance is never-ending. And you have certainly noticed that your body, which was once healthy, youthful and energetic, has been deteriorating as well.
No doubt you sense this decline in the world at large. Your money isn’t worth as much as it used to be. Society seems to be getting coarser and less neighborly. The government is more expensive but less effective. In short, the world is clearly not getting better; but seems to be on the verge of falling apart.
And how do people respond to this decline? Most of us respond by seeking Utopia.
Politically, it is one scheme after another that never work, all in an effort to bring in some vision of paradise. Personally, there is a search for the perfect job, the perfect body, the perfect marriage, and even the perfect child. There is even a pursuit for a perfect church. You know the one that just has saintly members and no friction, no differences of opinion, no doctrinal challenges, and no mess.
As long as we are pursuing Utopia, we will be disappointed and disillusioned. This world can never be perfect because everyone and everything in it is imperfect and flawed. Our churches, our towns, our schools, and our nation are all filled with sinners who reflect our father Adam.
There is no heaven on earth; in fact, Romans 8 states,“For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.” There will be no deliverance from the Fall, no Utopia, no perfect world, until Christ comes.
In the meantime, we are called to be faithful disciples of Christ, walking in obedience to His commands. This means loving God with all of our being and loving our neighbors as ourselves, even though they are imperfect and flawed sinners. As followers of Jesus Christ, let us reflect to the world the grace and mercy that we have experienced through the transforming power of the Gospel to all our fellow sinners.
Comments are closed.