Like many of us across the country and around the world, I was saddened and astounded at the amount of devastation there has been across the path of Hurricane Helen and now Milton.
Yet I was encouraged to see the responses of the Christian organizations and compassionate citizens acting in force to bring relief.
In all of this tragedy, I thought to myself that this level of destruction, the loss of lives and the of livelihoods, and the complete losses of property suffered by thousands of people. These losses remain a stark reminder that everything material in this life is temporal in nature. Yet Scripturally, we are also reminded corruption, and the rule of satan are will all come to an end.
What survives is courage, resiliency and the compassion shown by citizens, rescue and relief workers, of the emergency service crews and the mass of volunteers pouring themselves into the forlorn regions of our nation to help their brothers and sisters.
When people suffer devastation and the culture in humane, there is the outpouring love from well meaning people. People from all cultures, have their share of heroic people willing to seek and save lives when faced with dire circumstances caused by natural disasters.
That is a blessing of God’s common grace. Common grace is a functioning conscience that perceives others as valuable and deserving of our help for their sake and not our own..
How I view living in world prone to destruction
From a Christian standpoint, we are taught by Christ to be forgiving. Whether suffering is from a natural catastrophe or if the devastation was created by evil people, Christians are not called to ruminate on being unforgiving or vengeful. We may, however, be called to defend others from evil.
While most people may be inclined to help others in need, there’s always some person or groups of people willing to take advantage of the distressed or to succumb to temptation to violating the rights of others.
We cannot adequately explain the loss of life by disease, mishap, violence, or what seems like mere fate, except for the fact that we live in a fallen world, where tragedy, suffering, and grief are real. The evidence of sin abounds, but so are the grace and blessings of God.
We believe God is sovereign and yet we also have to endure in a fallen world. We should be seeking the will of God, in all circumstances. This strengthens us to resist temptation to do evil.
Our hope abounds, because our faith is based on God who is trustworthy. He is the Right Foundation, the Cornerstone. His eternal plan will be fulfilled and justice will be served.
Natural disasters remind us, we can neither place our faith in nor worship material possessions. Al things in the world and of the world are temporal. Our lives may be cut short, we are not in control of when it is our turn to die and to enter the presence of court room of the Holy God.
The Lord Jesus ended His Sermon on the Mount with this warning:
24 “Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: 25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.
26 “But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching, 29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. – Matthew 7:24-29
Every day, every breath is a gift of God, and in our free will we choose how we are to use that gift of life and for whom we live for and serve.
God is the almighty creator, the author of life and of salvation, responsible for the raising and falling of nations, and the final judge of mankind. Don’t just take my word or anyone else’s word for it. Go to the source documents preserved in the Bible and discover the truth for yourself.
May you repent and come to live for God through the glory of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Through over 40 authors and 1600 years, did God inspire His witness for us to read. There is such remarkable consistency in the message of God as collected in the Bible and testified to by Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and the apostles, that one much be drawn to investigate. The evidence shows the Bible is supernatural, especially as 25% of it is prophetic, including an abundance of fulfilled prophecy which is a sign of its divine authorship by the hands of faithful human authors.
For a one minute explanation of the Gospel, watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCP9UcC7BzE
For a review of the Ten Commandments: https://www.challenyee.com/the-ten-commandments/
CKY
P.S. Typos and all, I do not use AI.
10.11.24