Recently, I have been seeing stories about teens and young adults who are so scared about the future that they do not even want to have kids, because they do not believe in a good future. We have the news at our fingertips all day long, and most of the news that is reported is bad, so many people live in fear. They are anxious about a climate disaster, mass shootings, the opioid epidemic, terrorist attacks, mass immigration, wars, an economic collapse, and political conflict. In the next month I want to present some good news about our world, but even better news about our God and what He has done, is doing, and will do.
Here is some good news about the world. Many people in the western world think that the economy is getting worse, but worldwide over the last 25 years, many, many people have come out of extreme poverty. Alexander Hammond writing at Humanprogress.org says, "In 1820, 94 percent of the world’s population lived in extreme poverty (less than $1.90 per day adjusted for purchasing power). In 1990 this figure was 34.8 percent, and in 2015, just 9.6 percent." Even in terms of raw numbers of people in extreme poverty he says, "Not only is the proportion of people in poverty at a record low, but, in spite of adding 2 billion to the planet’s population, the overall number of people living in extreme poverty has fallen too." I remember growing up and regularly hearing about mass starvation in many countries, and while this is still possible, over the couple of decades these types of events are becoming less and less common.
As a student of history, I know that we cannot count of things always getting better in this world, but as a Christian I know the good news that "The earth and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, belong to the Lord; for He laid its foundation on the seas and established it on the rivers" from Psalm 24:1-2. God did not just make the world, but He also made me as Psalms 139:14 says, "I will praise You because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made." Furthermore, God did not just leave the world to drift, but is still involved in the world, as the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 8:6, "yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist."
Finally, though the world is broken by sin, our ultimate hope is not in systems of this world, but rather that God will redeem and remake the world. As the promise in Rev 21:1, 3, 4 says "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea no longer existed. . . God’s dwelling is with humanity, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will no longer exist; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer, because the previous things have passed away."
The good news for today is that the one true God is creator, sustainer, and redeemer of the world. That same God also created you, loves you personally, and wants to redeem you to be with Him for eternity. If you need hope for today, turn off the news and turn to your creator.
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