Ever Heard About Grace?
May 17, 2024
A Call for Love and Sacrifice
May 20, 2024I rarely feel encouraged after watching the news. We live in the age of the ‘permacrisis’, a term the dictionary describes as ‘an extended period of instability and insecurity, especially one resulting from a series of catastrophic events’. (Collins Dictionary, ‘permacrisis’)
Do I need to provide the roll call?
Let’s start with Brexit, COVID-19, Ukraine, climate change, ecological and man-made disasters, the cost-of-living crisis, political instability, global insecurity, earthquakes, and now, as I write, a return to ‘cold war’ politics between the US and Russia, and a war in the Middle East. The ‘doomsday clock’ of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists ‘now stands at 90 seconds to midnight – the closest to global catastrophe it has ever been’. (See Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, ‘A time of unprecedented danger: it is 90 seconds to midnight’, 24 January 2023.)
Seeing all this trouble – on top of your own personal trouble – why would you ever bother getting up in the morning?
I’ll tell you why.
Through a different lens
Look at the news and all your personal issues through the lens of Christianity and its central character, Jesus. I home in on the Person of Jesus because I believe He is the key to universal, global and personal hope.
What I like about His teaching, as recorded in the Bible, is that He is remarkably honest and kind. He’s honest in His assessment of how things are (there will be trouble ahead), and kind in the way He wants to help – in fact, to a large extent, He’s already done so. For example, consider the event we all try to avoid – death.
He overcame it!
Because of His death and resurrection (the reality of which was confirmed by eyewitness testimony and historical record) there is the gift of a future life that lasts forever. Christians call it ‘eternal life’. But that’s not all!
There is also the added value of the personal presence of Christ in our lives today. I cannot begin to tell what a difference it makes to my personal well- being during the ‘permacrisis’. When I see global challenges and my own personal challenges through ‘His eyes’, I begin to see things in a different context.
This is perhaps a conversation for another time, but when Jesus said there would be trouble ahead, He knew what He was talking about!
Jesus is God who became human and visited this planet to resolve our troubles, to resolve a conflict as cosmic as it is personal: the conflict between good and evil, between Christ and Satan. It was Satan who was defeated when Christ overcame death. And guess what – a day is coming when the problem of death will be no more.
That is what the resurrection is all about.
It is worth taking a deeper look at some time, but Christians have real, tangible hope because of this: Jesus came, He lived, He died, He rose, He ascended, and He will return!
Unpack every one of those ancient statements, and you will find Someone who is utterly and totally kind, gracious and trustworthy; a Teacher and Healer; Someone who knows the past, present and future, and who is more powerful than Biden, Putin and Xi Jinping and all the world leaders put together.
Most of all, He not only shares good news: He is the good news.
When you’re between a rock and a hard place
But there is one more aspect to knowing Jesus in these permacrisis days. While it’s good to know all about Him, what He’s done in the past, and the hope He offers for the future, when it comes down to it, what I really need to know in my time of personal crisis is that He is present, that He understands what I am going through, and that He cares.
When the consultant informs that my scan shows I have a malignant cancerous tumour which is spreading fast – I want to know that someone powerful is close by and cares. When I fear for my teenage children on the city streets plagued with gun or knife crime, I want to know that someone powerful is close by and cares. When I am facing a personal debt crisis and my spouse threatens to leave me, I want to know that someone powerful is close by and cares.
‘Don’t be afraid, I’ve redeemed you.
I’ve called your name. You’re mine.
When you’re in over your head,
I’ll be there with you.
When you’re in rough waters,
you will not go down.
When you’re between a rock and a hard place,
it won’t be a dead end –
Because I am GOD, your personal God.’(Isaiah 43:1-3, The Message)
Truly, I submit that He is the answer to every crisis, whether global, local or personal. Why do I believe that?
Because His actions speak louder than words. That’s why I’m still filled with hope, even in this time of permacrisis.
David Neal is a leading communicator, sharing the good news about the Good News.
He is the director of Media & Communication department in the Trans-European Division of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
Recommended resources
The Great Controversy unveils the cosmic struggle between good and evil affecting our planet.
God will soon put an end to suffering and sin. Read this book to know & get ready for the end-time events. (EN / FR / ES / PT)
The life and teachings of Jesus are the foundation of Christianity, the largest of the world’s religions.
Start Try Jesus! A course taking you on a spiritual journey to discover more about
the One who changed the world.