…for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.(2 Corinthians 8:9 – ESV)
Recently (1/28/07), CNN Money had an article online with this title, “Go Green, Get Rich”. It revealed 9 companies that were aiming at tackling humanity's supposedly biggest problems. The headline read, “Meet the companies tackling nine of humanity's biggest problems – and making millions saving us from ourselves.” I’d like to take a look at what they say are our biggest problems, and relate these to the church world, and see why we think we are rich, but we are not.
Problem #1: Global Warming – the problem in the church is that we are warming up to the world, we are on fire for the wrong things, and instead we are getting cold.
Problem #2: Oil Dependency – the problem is a limited supply, and so we rely on foreign oil, which is worldly oil, fleshly oil, because there is not enough oil of the Spirit.
Problem #3: Hunger and Malnutrition – Amos 8:11 – churches are starving for the Word of God.
Problem #4: Dirty Air – the problem in the church is that we won’t clear the air of bitterness, envy, strife, and vanity (Ephesians 4:29 – 5:6)
Problem #5: Dirty Water – James 3:11 – corroded pipeline / Jeremiah 2:13 – no water
Problem #6: Overfishing – the problem in the church is underfishing.
Problem #7: Epidemics – the problem in the church is crisis Christianity.
Problem #8: Drug-Resistant Infections – the problem in the church is we don’t use God’s prescriptions. The Word of God will pierce through any poison (Hebrews 4:12).
Problem #9: Waste Disposal – the problem in the church is we just hang on to all our old garbage
Oh, they missed #10, and it is kind of a big one, it is #1 really: SIN. That is humanity’s biggest problem.
The world thinks it knows what the problems really are, and it thinks we can educate ourselves into a solution. They are wrong, of course, as we could “solve” all these problems but the heart of man would still be beating after its own master, itself. A new host of hellish problems is just waiting to be born in the heart of man. No amount of “going green” is going to change that. Companies may get rich, and people may get wealthy in the world’s eyes, but their money will fade away and their problems are only the latest fashion of the foolish heart. Instead, if you tend to God’s greenhouse, you will be indeed rich, with a harvest of the fruit of the Spirit.
8 comments:
Another good one, Brother.
Amen J.D. -- I am writing a bit about how to help the poor -- somewhat along the same lines. I have watched as many in the church want to 'do' something to help, (a noble thought), yet the Gospel is lost in the shuffle of 'doing'.
I can really identify with the oil dependence comment -- we want to help, and we end up providing worldly oil, and not proclaiming the one who will bring the healing balm of the Spirit.
J.D.,
Go brother. Now that is discernment. Unfortunately there are a growing number of Christians that are falling for the global warming propaganda.
Trust in God, be good stewards, but beware of left-wing driven causes such as global warming. Don't trust them and verify their data.
W.H.
You remind me a little of Ravenhill they way you turn a phrase. Nice.
Daniel, thanks a lot, my head just puffed up like a balloon...
...but seriously, thanks for noticing, I really do think that phrases, if done well, can help some people get a hold of larger ideas that they don't have words to articulate...
Beautiful! (Unfortunately, some people will say that if we address one side, we don't care at all about the other, whereupon our opinion is summarily dismissed.)
I've been hanging on to a thought that runs on a similar track, and that is Infertility. Spiritual infertility, to be exact. It's the problem of Christians who do not reproduce.
And believe me, I know that biological infertility is a painful problem, but it's not worse than when Jesus says, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men," and instead, we end the "spiritual bloodline."
word up g-money, that was right on the greenback!
Kewl, thnx dawg...
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