In January we hear all of the usual hopeful entreaties- “this year will be better than last,” grand resolutions are made, the eternally physically unfit make their way to the gym, and so forth.  Unfortunately, by the snow booger grey butt end of February, we realize entropy marches merrily along as it has for every year that has followed the Fall- wars, rumors of wars, death and the ongoing effects of sin’s poison rage erode the fabric of this world ever more deeply. It’s a slow death but death nonetheless.

I have never called myself an optimist.  Pragmatist perhaps, and by the grace of God I sojourn through this life, but the fate of this world is clearly taught in the pages of Scripture.

This world is temporary.  The apostle Peter warns us of the fate of this world in 2 Peter 3:10-

 “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.“

This Scriptural truth is quite counter to the world’s programming. We can’t save ourselves. We can’t even “save the trees, save the bees”, etc. to quote George Carlin. Through the sin of the Garden all creation became subject to decay and death.

This isn’t to say we should neglect our stewardship of God’s world, only that we should not worship the world or its resources. Environmentalism when taken to extremes is nothing more than another false religion that values the gifts more than the Giver.

To this I say, come soon, Lord Jesus. The more years I spend in this world the more I lament over its brokenness, the more I miss departed family and friends, and the more I long to see my Lord face to face.

There is still joy in this world- even in the paradox of the “now but not yet.”

Many churches have forgone the teaching regarding the Church Militant and the Church Triumphant, but it’s an important distinction. We in the Church Militant are still being assaulted by Satan, the world, and the old Adam that has to be drowned in the water of Baptism daily. I pray for the strength to resist, to cling to Jesus, to fight the good fight until the end.

No, we are not evolving and getting better day by day. Humanity has been devolving deeper into sin and depravity since the Fall.

Jesus Christ is the only hope for fallen humanity. He is the only salvation for depraved sinners like me.

It is a new year that will bring both blessings and hardships.

He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? Micah 6:8

Jesus is coming back for us. Even as this world is growing darker, we are called and equipped to be the light of Christ as long as we sojourn in this world. This is the calling of Christians until the Lord returns.