“Everything is seemingly spinning out of control.” That’s the title of an article released on June 22, 2008, by Associated Press Writers Alan Fram and Eileen Putman. Fram and Putnam ask, “Is everything spinning out of control? Midwestern levees are bursting. Polar bears are adrift. Gas prices are skyrocketing. Home values are abysmal. Air fares, college tuition and health care border on unaffordable. Wars without end rage in Iraq, Afghanistan and against terrorism.”
Fram and Putnam go on to quote a retired corporate manager saying, “It is pretty scary” and to cite a poll saying only 17 percent of people surveyed believe the country is moving in the right direction. They note our President gets an approval rating of only a third of the people and that the rating of Congress is much lower than the president’s. And, they cite that “food is becoming scarcer and more expensive on a worldwide scale, due to increased consumption in growing countries such as China and India and rising fuel costs.”
Now for the bad news and the good news. The bad news is that the Bible doesn’t predict this world is going to get better and better. It prophecies it will get worse for many. The good news, however, is that your hope and my hope are not in this world.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t work to make our world a better place. God clearly tells us in His Word that we are stewards of this world. We are to administer it wisely. We are to preserve and conserve it and to try to leave it better for those who follow us. What I am saying, though, is that our ultimate hope is not in this world.
Our hope is not tied to the economy. Our hope is not tied to who will be the next president. Our hope is not tied to weather conditions. Our hope is not tied to the actions of others. Our hope is not tied to the price of oil.
God is still on His throne. His Word is still true. His ways are still best. Come what may, dear believer, keep on looking to Jesus. He is our hope. Our citizenship is not in this world but in heaven to come.
Read Philippians 3:20 and 21. And then . . . rejoice in the Lord Jesus.
Love in Him,
Bill Patterson
Posted on
Thursday, June 26, 2008
by Erica Sutphin