... that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage
to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. (Romans 8:21)
One of the characteristics
of the world today is the belief that heaven on earth is possible. If we would
just get with the program of well-indoctrinated youth like Greta Thunberg. If
we would only appreciate the superiority of the political correctness dictated
on college campuses and walk in fear that an idea that makes us uncomfortable
is not only dangerous to us, but to the world (and that the only possible response
is violence.) If we would fall in line with the wisdom of Bernie Sanders, and
AOC and their friends. Or, if we would only bring prayer back into schools (because,
of course, there’s no way something like that could end up twisted.)
In today’s
passage, Paul wrote that creation itself is in bondage to decay. The Second Law
of Thermodynamics works. Everything is tending toward chaos, falling apart,
breaking down. I suspect there is a Second Law of Thermodynamics that works in
the psychological and sociological realms as well as in the physical. Attempting
to make things “perfect” tends to require huge amounts of energy that most of
us can’t sustain. Keeping things perfect may require more or less energy than
getting us there, but it still requires sustained exertion. As Ronald Reagan
put it, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.”
What today’s
passage tells us, however, is that God is in control, not we. Nature is decaying,
just as the Second Law says it must. In theory, we might postpone its collapse,
but ultimately, until the children of God are revealed, it is destruction bound.
Of course, that doesn’t mean we aren’t to act as good stewards. Hastening the destruction
shows just as much disrespect as pretending that we can halt it.
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