With increasing awareness of healthy living, the nagging obligation of environmental concern, global philanthropy shifting from lifestyle to fashion, and widespread rediscovery of the U S Constitution, it’s easy to get distracted. Christians aren’t called to create “a better tomorrow for our children and grandchildren.” Yes, we need to eat right, live right, work right, give right, and vote right—and we seem to have forgotten how to do those things. But.. we must make sure we do them for the right reasons.
It is easy to think that diligence—voting and environmental alike—serves the purpose of creating a permanently perfect world. The fountain of eternal youth is a heathen quest. Christians worship a God who heals and grants eternal life through simple faith. The invading government of Jesus that will break through the sky is our hope for future society. While reigning on His throne, Jesus will clean up any oil spill and restore any lost species. No level of activism can cause lions and sheep to play together as friends. Our world is not in chaos because people voted for the wrong political party, it is in chaos because of sin. The solution is not in taking the right preventative measures. Our world will only be healed when Jesus comes in person and wages His own war against evil.
In the meanwhile, He did give us a co-mission: Go into all the earth and make disciples from everything that breathes.
A new world is coming, but Jesus must make it so. Today is the day of invitation. Invite your friends to join us. I fully support voting and eating right and caring for the environment—as they help us invite people to the coming Kingdom.
If we take water to people in Africa, but don’t introduce them to the source of eternal life in the process, the wells we drill will only be taken over by militia war lords. Compassion without healing is an insult. Satan wants people to think that New Testament miracles will not happen in the Last Days.. because he fears them. Satan knows that health and life and healing are but a glimpse of the Power that will inevitably crush him. God doesn’t want to heal us merely for the sake of healing us. He wants to heal us as an invitation to eternal health. We mustn’t invite people to eternal Life and, in the same breath, teach that New Testament miracles are on pause.. people won’t believe us. They shouldn’t believe us. They DON’T believe us!
Powerless evangelism is annoying. Distributing miracles proves more effective than distributing tracts.
Making war against evil and purging sin from the planet don’t sound like “nice-pretty” things to say.. if you are part of the problem. But if you are inviting people to the Life ahead.. it’s encouraging to consider that the cleansing forest fire, and the power to endure it, may have been part of God’s plan from the beginning.
Related Bible Verses: Matthew 10:34, 13:24-30, 36-43; Luke 12:49; Ephesians 6:10-12; 2 Timothy 3:5,7; Revelation14:14-20, 19:11-20:10, 21:1-5)