Do you ever get tired of this world?
It’s dashed dreams and broken promises . . . suffering and injustices . . . the pain and hurt and disappointment?
When we grow weary of this world, there’s a good reason. It’s because we’ve been made for another world. This isn’t heaven. This isn’t our final home.
In heaven, there will be no more evil or demonic influence. No more broken promises. No more injustice, pain or violence. No more disagreement and heartache. Bottom line: there will be no more sin. That’s the world that awaits us as believers in Jesus Christ.
Scripture captures this thought well when it says:
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away… And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” (Revelation 21:1, 3-5a)
Martin Luther saw this present world clearly when he wrote the following line in his well-known hymn “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”:
“This world with devils filled should threaten to undo us.”
If we are not careful, we can forget that we live in a fallen place in the midst of a fallen race. This world has been marred and scarred by sin. As one scholar has insightfully noted: “If we understood the depth of the Fall we would be surprised that anything good could possibly ever happen to us on this earth.”
Contrary to what some people believe, our world’s biggest problem is not over-population, government, the economy, poverty, political parties, oil spills, etc. Our world’s biggest problem is sin! Sin has marred and scarred this world. The sin issue is the most important crisis that needs to be dealt with.
If the sin issue isn’t dealt with and people’s hearts are not changed, then everything else we do to try and change society is simply putting Band-Aids on a cancerous wound. Dr. Joseph Stowell, former president of Moody Bible Institute, wrote the following about this critical issue:
“One of the most seductive forces in this kingdom-on-earth disorientation is the politicizing of the church in the last couple decades. This well-meaning effort to change society politically reflects a debilitating imbalance. Most of us think that if we had the right political influence – a messianic presence in the Oval Office and Christians on Capitol Hill – we could restore this fallen earth to its intended redemptive peace.
And while as citizens we ought to work to influence a righteous society and to hold our government accountable for righteous practices, the church’s main thrust is not political revolution but redemptive influence. Homes, neighborhoods, and schools will not be healed and crime-free until lives are changed through Christ and the values of the kingdom are lived out on a regular basis. Counting on political processes to accomplish our goals has politicized our King (would Christ really be a right-wing Republican if He were here?) and undermined the eternal cause of the gospel. We have confused the message of the Cross and the meaning of the kingdom with political agendas, and thus we have distorted the reality of Christ in both this world and the world to come.”
We must never forget that the church’s main thrust in this world is not political revolution, but redemptive influence! We live in a world that has been marred and scarred by sin…we live in a fallen place in the midst of a fallen race! Sin is the main problem and Jesus is the only solution!