Contributor: Annie
Scriptures
2 Chronicles 7:14 John 1:16-17 Revelation 21:1-4
Sitting here today I have been thinking about the events of the past week since the forest fire in our area began. This is a beautiful part of New Zealand, with wonderful bays, bushland and mountains, well known for its orchards, forestry and vineyards. Yet this summer has been hotter and very much drier than usual, the land is parched, so it is no wonder that the fire spread to be the largest New Zealand has known.
The human race has taken this precious jewel that is our home planet totally for granted. This incredible gift that God created for us has been entrusted to us, but we have been so focused on making it “better”, more convenient for us, more productive, that we have forgotten its Maker. Initially all this progress seemed wonderful, only now are we seeing the outcome of our determination to follow our own ways. We have the facility to heal diseases, build cities out of deserts, increase food production, but the enormous cost to the Earth is now becoming apparent. We are destroying our home, just as surely as the fire that whipped through the trees on our parched hillsides left a trail of destruction in its wake.
And yet, our God, our amazing wonderful Abba Father, has made a way out for us. If we recognise our foolish ways, if we turn from them in repentance and seek His Face, He offers us what we could never earn or deserve. He sent His One and Only Son to be the perfect sacrifice, the Only One able to pay the debt for our sins, and let’s be clear – all of us have sinned. God offers to us total forgiveness for what we have done, or have not done should that be the case, if we turn to Him in repentance and absolute surrender.
We have to be clear that without Christ becoming sin for us, we cannot be forgiven. There is no sacrifice that can repeatedly remit our sins as there used to be under the Old Covenant; our once and for all Sacrifice, Jesus Christ, ushered in the New Covenant, fulfilling every jot and tittle of the old Law. There is no other way but through the precious Blood of Christ.
How great is our God, all His promises of redemption, reconciliation and a new heaven and earth made available to sinners like us. Through the Blood of Christ that bought us forgiveness, we have the promise of no more pain, no more sorrow, in a brand-new earth. It is unthinkable that, having done so much damage to and been so careless with our Earth, God has prepared such beauty and peace for us. All He asks of us is that we give up our stubborn will, our perception that we know better than the One who created our world and turn to Him, acknowledging that only God can save us.
Prayer: Father God, we repent of our foolishness, of our greed and of our carelessness in stewarding Your gift of this Earth to us. We acknowledge that our only hope is in the Blood of Christ, Your Son who paid our sin debt in our place.