Day 3017 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

Romans 1:18 NIV

Why should we worry? Why should we fear? Why not pretend that God isn't here?

The current rapidity of society's debasement is offering for all to see a glimpse of what a place, a life, a time without God might look like. It's giving us all a chance to determine for ourselves what kind of peace we truly wish for ourselves, for our loved ones, for even those who have been against us in the past so far. Not wishing such a distasteful demise upon even our worst enemies is a sign of at least a shadow of compassion.

And it's that compassion that ought to be driving those of us who know the Good News to spread His hope as far and as wide as possible so as to contend against the wickedness that's driving humanity apart from Him forever. Why? Because we're seeing with our very eyes a taste of what it's like to be apart from Him as this society goes down hard into the hatred of self and the corresponding adoration of sin. It's getting bad out there folks, and the dimming darkness only shows what life is like without His light.

For us to sit back and simply accept defeat out of fear or fragility is an utter disregard to our calling and a sign of blatant disrespect to the One who calls us to take up our crosses and follow.

Christ came to contend for the souls being willfully lost in this eternal struggle against all that's good and right and true. He came to both teach against and therefore torment the gross complacency keeping us chained to our chosen depravity. He walked among us in order to call us to walk along with Him away from all the baggage we'd gathered to ourselves that only ever served to weigh us down to this earth.

And as He ascended and sent forth His Spirit to continue guiding our way along the narrowest of path through the darkest of valleys, He indeed called us to follow, to serve, to war against all that's still so vengefully against Him and His message of truth and salvation.

Why did He do it all? Why go to such enormous pains to make clear the only way that leads us to hope greater than a life of worldly success or comfort or satisfaction? Why did He literally choose to give it all in such a violent manner? To open our eyes.

To awaken our hearts. To stir our slumbering souls lost within the grasp of a kind of sinful delusion that had us perpetually hating the light of hope. To fracture the hardened exterior of our stone-like hearts so that once again they could beat back to life on the other side of the sinful tomb in which we'd been living. He did it that we could finally realize, finally understand, finally witness what we'd become knowing that that realization would spur some to the repentance necessary to find life eternal.

And as the scales were planed away from blocking our vision of truth and reality, what did we find? What did we see? What do we see now that we see through the lens of His truth?

We see a world imploding. We see a culture crumbling. We see a society still seeking every second of selfish satisfaction possible in this place. We see hearts still hardened against the love of the One who fashioned them. We see a people so lost in hatred that they know not what they're fighting for, only who they're fighting against. We see love growing cold, compassion growing infrequently shared, kindness growing extinct, and hope dying slowly amidst the above.

We see, finally, a mere glimpse of the heartbreak He's felt from the time that fruit was plucked and those first of His creation walked haughtily out of the Garden from which He created them.

And to say it's hard is hardly adequate. The deepening of these distinct divisions is rough to witness. The continuation of the ruination is enough to leave one speechless once they've heard that salvation and freedom and mercy are all so freely available and kindly given. Watching a world pour gasoline onto the fires already raging offers both a reason to speak about the Living Water and an urgency to do so loudly and with a fervent passion that demands others hear and hopefully listen.

Because again, what we're seeing isn't merely human choice or inaction or some societal dereliction of opportunity to be something better than the majority have chosen to be. No, what we're seeing is just as we see here in Romans. God's wrath is being witnessed, granted in minute form for the moment. God's anger is showing its face in the rise of sin being shown against Him.

The evidence of both God's goodness and humanity's rejection of it are now clearly seen in the many disgraceful, distasteful, despicable and degrading displays of this place still so vehemently against the Author of peace.

Yes, the world is a blurry image of what hell will clearly be one day.

But the scary part, the part that ought to terrify us, the part that should keep us awake at night thinking of ways in which to help point people to the only One who can save us from that end is that this is only a beginning. This is only a glimpse. This is but a peek, a preparation, a partial realization of what a place might be like where He is entirely missing. This is a foreshock, a foreshadowing of what's to come.

Violence in the streets. Stores being looted and burned. Parades of pomp and pride done in the most blasphemous of ways. Political and social divides creating such great contention that anger is all that's ever achieved or offered. Brother against brother. Families against families. Greed, lust, murder, loss of life and loss of hope. Racism and gender confusion. Arrogance and corresponding discounting of opportunities to help or heal. Lies and deception building prisons faster than seemingly possible.

A world, our world, this world is literally falling apart and it seems as though there is little chance or hope of it coming back from this brink for which we've been racing forever. And yet, all the hatred, the darkness, the drunkenness done in depravity, it's all just an opening scene in what's sure to be a nightmare of untold proportions. Yet, He's told us. He has told us what awaits those who refuse His kindness.

He's told us of a place of a sort of misery that oughtn't be possible, but that must be placed as a reward for those who slap away the hand of their Father in exchange for the further reaching into the darkness contained within the deceitful depths of their foolish heart's desires. Yes, He told us what our sinfulness so fully deserves, and rather than embrace that warning and accept His way out of that suffering, society chose and is choosing to double down on its choice to refuse His truth.

Yes, His truth is still suppressed. It's shoved into hiding behind the lies that fuel the frivolity of this society. It’s still rejected and rebuked and rebuffed and those who speak it are widely reprimanded and ridiculed for doing so in a place that's always made it clear, even with violence, that such goodness is simply unwelcome in hearts eternally attached to the confusion within.

That's how we got here. And since many don't want different, God's not forcing the changes that we should be biting at the bit to make as quickly and as fully as possible. The opportunity to be saved and set free from what we now know we've earned is a gift too priceless for words to convey. And seeing what happens in a place where God is continually unwelcome, why anyone would choose to experience this in deeper measure for all of forever is entirely beyond me.

There isn't much peace here anymore. Not much love or kindness or humility or decency or even common sense. The world is growing only colder as it grows closer to the death it still thinks to be the 'best life'. Yes, in many ways the downfall is deepening and it's giving us all more sights and scenes which show a reflection of the destruction that's still to come in all its fullness.

Is this the home you want? Is this the hope you crave? Is life spent without the promise of eternal peace the kind of life that's truly able to bring joy? Is witnessing all this hatred and harm the kind of image you want repeated forever before you? Is the pain, the torment, the sleepless nights and darkening days truly the way you wish to spend eternity?

Friends, that's what's coming! Hell is a place of God's absence. It's a place where all that He is is all but gone. All of His peace, His kindness, His hope and healing and joy and mercy and majesty and perfection and provision and rest are all gone from there. And as they're leaving here, we ought to be asking ourselves if that's what we want for ourselves, our friends, our families, our enemies. Because we, like He, shouldn't wish a furthering of this depraved place upon anyone.

We should be fighting, clawing, screaming to help people hear the truth of what awaits at the end of this widening road. Because it's not the fun and enjoyment that so are many are making it out to be. It's the combination of every horror story ever told, multiplied by a million and then multiplied again. It's an utter destruction that doesn't end, a misery that doesn't cease, a promise that peace will be forever impossible to find.

This is just the warmup, the warning, the waiting time He's so kindly given for all who can and will cease their selfishness and starve their sinfulness and turn from their brokenness back to the Potter who made them. This is merely a time in a place filled with every reason necessary to seek urgently shelter in the Son. And He's giving us all plenty of proof that ought to inspire us to dive deeper into His arms as we witness all these horrid events and the endless hatred which continues to fuel them.

God isn't welcome here, society's made the obvious. They mock Him, they deny Him, they reject His truth and refuse His mercy. And what we see all around us is what happens to a place, in a place where God isn't honored. What do you expect when He even pulls His patience from the table and His wrath flows in all its fullness upon this place of wanton ignorance and sin?

Please start swimming for shore my friends, because a storm's coming. Once more the ground will shake, the clouds will part, the seas shall boil as His judgement is released upon this earth. We've this time, and again, plenty of reason and visual encouragement to find Him before He's had enough. It will get worse, much, much worse. And for many, that worse will last forever. Please don't be among that number. Doing so is just insanity considering what we're seeing as compared to what He's promised those who flee from this place and shake the dust along their leaving.

Why should we worry? Why should we fear? Why not pretend that God isn't here? Because many are already living like He's not, and the world is burning because of it. And the heat will only increase exponentially once His mercy is no longer an option left to be chosen. That's why we should worry and fear, because this world is heading to a place where all that's going wrong is going to happen perpetually.

And that’s not somewhere any of us should want to be, especially considering Heaven is still accepting reservations. Make that call, reserve your spot at His table, change your address and forward your hopes unto the place He’s gone to prepare. Because if we think this place is bad, a place where God isn't welcome is nothing compared to a place where His peace and kindness are removed entirely.

#LeaveNoSoulUntold