When an acorn fell and hit her on the head, Chicken Little announced to the barnyard animals that the sky was falling. Yes, it's a fairy tale, but the lesson is one we all need. Take care about jumping to conclusions that the available facts do not support! Seems to me that we live in an age when the voices of the fearful are amplified through the megaphone of the media. One professor with a sensational story can seize the nation's attention as he makes his way from network to network telling his story about the terrible thing that is about to wipe out human civilization as we know it. What he, and most of us fail to remember, is that human beings have been amazingly gifted by God to give birth to creative solutions for problems that arise!
Is life really as awful as we are often led to believe? Is the doom of the world imminent at the hands of crazed terrorists, big oil companies, or polluters? Before you say, 'yes,' consider this. One hundred years ago, the average life expectancy for an American was around age 50; today it is near 80. When I was a child, there were hundreds of 'dead' rivers and lakes in America, full of toxic wastes. Today, there are virtually none! Dr. Paul Erlich, a biologist and author of the 1967 book The Population Bomb, predicted that "the world would experience famines sometime between 1970 and 1985 due to population growth outstripping resources. Ehrlich wrote that "the battle to feed all of humanity is over ... In the 1970s and 1980s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now." Ehrlich also stated, "India couldn't possibly feed two hundred million more people by 1980," and "I have yet to meet anyone familiar with the situation who thinks that India will be self-sufficient in food by 1971." -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_R._Ehrlich Forty years later and with a world population that has doubled, the predicted famines are not happening. Is there hunger in the world? Absolutely, but not because of production problems. Hunger exists in some parts of our world primarily because of warfare and distribution issues not production problems.
My point is not to belittle caution or to say that there are no real problems in our world or even in our individual lives. What we fail to recognize, personally and as human beings, is that change is constant. Innovations and adaptations are part of the world and we are constantly developing new tools that help us to overcome the doomsday predictions.
Some predict the demise of Christianity, the passing of the Church, within a generation. They selectively use statistics that produce great alarm (and bigger contributions!). Are they right? I am quite sure they are not! As one who came to maturity in a time of apocalyptic predictions about the 'end of the ages,' in the 1970's, I was fed a steady diet of sermons about the rise of the Anti-Christ and the coming of a world government that would bring a bloodbath of martyrdom to the faithful. I know what fear mongering can do and nothing good comes of it. I now understand the tragedy of a whole generation of Christians, who lost sight of the richness that the Gifts of the Holy Spirit could bring to their lives due to bad eschatology, built their entire spiritual experience around fear instead of hope! Paranoia replaced vision! I now see how those Gifts were given to empower the people of God to build the Kingdom of Christ in the world where they lived. But millions fearfully hunkered down in their churches, staring at charts that predicted an imminent Great Tribulation and led them to conclude that the End was near.
Thankfully, God is greater than our fears and misconceptions! While some of us waited for Jesus to whisk us out of this world, others heard the call of the Spirit to go and make a difference in Jesus' name. And, despite all the doom and gloom, since 1970 the Church has grown by leaps and bounds in Latin America, Africa, and even - wonder of wonders - in Communist China! Yes, Believer Friend, I do hold to the doctrine of the Second Coming of Christ. However, that doctrine has become for me a great source of hope for the redemption of Creation as the Scripture would have us understand it! When Jesus promised to return, He did so as a statement of victory over sin, Hell, and death.
Are you letting the troubles of life fill you with fear? Are you living defensively, building walls to shut out every threat both real and imagined? Let me gently suggest that you have missed the major part of the Story! Go to the Scripture and read again the glorious 8th chapter of Romans! In one brief, breathtaking passage, we are told of God's plan, about our destiny as His children who now call the Lord of Glory, "Dad!" We are urged to keep faith even as we work through the difficulties of life. Then the chapter closes with this shout of victory. Take it with you today. "What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? . . . No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:31-32, 37-39, NIV)
Pray that faith will overcome fear, that God will make you a person who is full of the Spirit and who works diligently to bring Light and Life to a world that so often marred by Darkness and Death.
"This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen." (1 Timothy 1:15-17, NKJV)
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Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.
Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.
Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.
High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.
-- 8th Century Hymn
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