Today read Psalm 56, Proverbs 22, Acts 16:19-28
In case you are wondering, I don’t start these things with some great plan of how they will end. I am very much a “stream of consciousness” kind of writer. When I get to the end of a blog, I am about as surprised as anybody how it winds up. I just start writing and whatever happens, happens. My wife might say I talk the same way. Well, I certainly do these 40 Day adventures that way. I started with the idea of focusing on the things that God loves. His people and His Church seemed obvious. Then the need to get there through Bible reading and prayer makes sense, so His Word and His Presence. But the last thing, His creation just kind of haunted me. I really hadn’t thought a whole lot about it. I certainly am no great student of environmentalism. And I SURE do not have a political ax to grind. But I couldn’t get away from the idea that God loves the world and He wants us to love it too. So…to my surprise, here we are.
This week, I would ask you to just have an open mind, a compliant heart, and a willingness to ask good questions. As is always the case, I don’t have the answers to this issue. But I am willing to sit with the discomfort of not knowing and see what God has to say to us.
Later this morning, as I have done each Monday, I will post a brief video, hopefully, to explain very briefly, (ha), my thoughts on how we got here. Because I am so weak in this area, I’m going to tell you now what I am going to say then. First, the world matters. Unless the Mars Rover comes up with something very exciting, this little spinning ball in the middle of this vast galaxy, which is one of millions of galaxies, is all we have to live on. They ain’t makin’ another one. So the planet that we live on and how we care for it is pretty important, probably more important than most of us think.
The second thing is the world matters to God. The Bible has a bunch of verses that seem to say that. Let me give you one here. Psalm 24:1, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it; the world and all of the people that live in it.” Perhaps we are victims of our own eschatology, it will all end someday, and God will just make a new heaven and a new earth. Well, first, I don’t understand all of that for sure, and second, until then, I refer you to point number one. This is all we’ve got. I believe God is interested in this mudball we call earth and He wants me to be interested in it too.
And the final thought, you matter. The problem with BIG issues is that they are BIG issues. It is easy to get overwhelmed, feel hopeless, and, because that is so uncomfortable, just stop thinking about it. But, if we have learned anything in this last 14 months or so, it is that little, individual actions, can make a huge difference. I don’t know much about the pandemic. I just know that I decided to be a good citizen, wear a mask, practice social distancing, and, things seem to be getting better. I don’t imagine I can single-handedly save the planet, but I can do some little part, and maybe the whole thing turns around.
So for today, just ask this question, of yourself and of God. “What can I do today to make my world a healthier place?” You might be surprised where that ends up.
See you tomorrow. This Wednesday a great episode of “What Difference Does That Make?” drops. My friend David Robertson, and our very gifted counselor, Daniel Crosby, are the guests. As usual, if you haven’t subscribed to this blog, would you consider doing so? And send it to a friend.