Are Things Getting Worse?

 August 15, 2024

Thursday

Does it seem like the world is getting worse? Did you expect persecution as a Christian? The answer to both of those questions is "yes." Many in this world will hate us because we stand for a holy God. We shouldn't be surprised. Jesus told us they would.

John 15:18-19 (ESV) ¹⁸  “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. ¹⁹  If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

And yes, it is getting worse. That was also said in the Bible.

Romans 1:21 (ESV) ²¹  For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

It seems such a small thing to neglect honoring or giving thanks to God but it has led to a greater and greater separation between those who fail in this and God. As they forgot about God they thought more of themselves. They speculated that they world didn't need God and their hearts were darkened because the light was gone.

So, things get worse:

Romans 1:24 (ESV) ²⁴  Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves,

God let them sin to their hearts' content. They have indeed done so in our lifetimes. Each time I think it can't get any worse, I am proven wrong. The further we have gotten from God, the worse things have gotten. 

Now, before we decide to go out and preach how bad the world is, we need to examine who is genuinely at fault. Most of us think that we are the good guys as Christians and they are the bad guys because they aren't Christians. But does God call on the non-believers to repent before He calls on the believers?

1 Peter 4:17 (ESV) ¹⁷  For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

And who does God call on to repent so that the land will be healed?

2 Chronicles 7:14 (ESV) ¹⁴  if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

So, we can rail on and on about how bad the world is getting when the truth is that we are the ones called to humble ourselves, pray, seek God's face and repent from our own wickedness. Sure, we may not have sinned with such notoriety as those in the world but the fact that we know God and yet do not honor or give Him thanks by the way we carefully live our lives reveals hearts that aren't that different from those in the world.

God placed the solution to this crisis in our hands. If we will clean up our act, He will heal our land.

So, how bad does it need to get before we will get serious? Now, that's the real question.