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Jan
27

Why We Should Have Hope in Humans

No, I am not Keanu Reeves from the recent block buster remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still as an alien vouching for the human race in the face of it’s extermination. I am, however, a human who has made the following statement from his heart:

I have lost all hope in people.

To extinguish the risk of frightening you in believing that I have lost hope in humanity, I will simply say that I do not feel this way right now. It is, however, a statement that I found spilling out of my brain late into Sunday afternoon. I began to question whether or not people could change for the better and truly realign their hearts from the deceptively attractive deathtraps of this world to the perfection that is in God. I found myself in a personally rare state of hopelessness; not of self depression but with the lack of any desire to spread love and the Gospel to others.

Whether you are a Christ follower or not, I am sure that you have had the same thought. Perhaps not about spreading the Gospel, but it doesn’t take a level of divine righteousness to see the severe brokenness in the world. We can try to block it out, separate ourselves from it or render it as fiction or irrelevant to our lives. But, even in white suburbia we can tune our 94 inch plasma televisions to a channel showcasing the latest atrocities in a small village out in the “bush” of Africa.

From slander to genocide, to using hunger as a leash to control a nation, we see evidence of a world so lost in darkness and chaos that it becomes overwhelming for those seeking light and hope. Why should we waste water on a burning building that’s already completely entrenched in flames? Putting out the fire will not prevent the unavoidable collapse of the building. This is an actual judgment call that fire chiefs are forced to make.

The world is on fire and it has been burning since the first bite Adam took out of that golden delicious. It will eventually collapse it its darkness and set the stage of destruction that will cue the return of Jesus in the Glory he deserves and everything will be dandy for those who knew Jesus. Much like a burned down house, it will have to be recreated. For God said, “Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth.” -Isaiah 65:17

And that’s about as deep as I am willing to go into the realm of apocalypse discussion. Up to this point, I hope I have convinced you as I have convinced myself that there’s no point in attempting to save this burning planet. Genocide is out of our control, it’s too big of a leviathan to fight… right? We should just tuck our heads between our legs and wait for the coming of Jesus (an actual quote from a friend).

No

My metaphor of allowing a burning building to stay it’s course with no hope changes with one added variable: there are people inside. You’d bet your socks that a fire chief and his firemen would risk their own lives for just one person inside a burning building, regardless of how fierce the fire is or how structural stable it is.

Each person who doesn’t know the love of Christ and rejects his free gift of eternal life is destined for complete separation from God. They are essentially trapped in a burning building that’s eventually going to come down in a fiery heap on their head. H. E. double hockey sticks is not just a bad word, it’s a place that exists as a center for suffering. When we watch CNN and hear about children being forced to be soldiers that slaughter their own families, we should not lose all hope in man but gain passionate motivation. As a destructively burning fire is the motivation for selfless bravery in attempts to save people inside, the brokenness of this world should be our motivation as Christians to spread the good news of the Lord.

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