Jesus Christ Cannot Save the World, Part 2

"But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.
But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness,
waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!
But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." (2 Peter 3:7-13, ESV)
Global warming? People continue to debate the idea of whether or not there is any global warming at the present time, whether it is a cyclical phenomena, if there is global warming, and
whether or not mankind has anything to do with its cause. Saving the world from extinction has become the latest fad among many that we people on this earth go through from time to time. For those who are unaware of the fact, global warming was debated in the 1930s and was a political football at that time.
For Christians, the idea that this present world will last forever is absurd. Most Christians believe in the second coming of Christ as much as they believe that He actually came the first time. Most believers hold in their hearts a deep-seated desire for the Master’s Return. One of the slogans for 1st Century Christians was the term, “maranatha,” or Lord, come quickly. Perhaps they were comfortable with the hope that the miseries of this life would soon be gone when Messiah returns. Certainly many early Christians, as well as Christians down through the ages, shed their blood for the faith they had in their Savior. The term “martyr,” literally means “a witness.” To witness to the saving grace of Jesus Christ, to tell others about the good news of the Kingdom of God was to put ones life on the line. In the book of Acts, Peter and the other apostles stood before the Jewish high court, so to speak, and when told not to speak anymore in the name of Jesus, replied like this: “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard." (Acts 4:19-20, ESV) The Jewish high court wanted to punish the apostles for spreading the word about Jesus. Why? Because most of them were involved in putting Jesus to death and feared that their sin would cost them their power in Jewish politics.
Men and women were put to death by the Apostle Paul, before he turned to Jesus Christ. He dragged them off to Jerusalem for judgment. He stood witness at the stoning of the first Christian martyr, Stephen. He later lost his own life, after suffering at the hands of both Jews and Romans for his belief in the Lord Jesus Christ.
These people looked for a home in heaven where our Heavenly Father is. This world is not our home, at least not our eternal home. Peter said that we should live in this world as if we were sojourners, travelers who were on their way somewhere else. We cannot save the state of the present world; it will stand or fall by the Hand of Almighty God. He has already slated the entire universe for destruction. He created it beautiful, good, without sin and without death. But once sin entered the world, death came with it. That meant death for the entire universe, not just humans, plants and animals. Not even just the earth! God is going to remake everything, and it will be made perfect without any possibility of the corruption we now see around us.
Should we then just abuse the earth and throw it away, much as we do all of the consumer goods that surround us today? Not at all. A careful reading of the entire Bible will help us to understand that God wants us to take care of the charge He has given us, to use the earth wisely and not destroy it. For true Christians, there is no paradox between the two. A true Christian will use the earth wisely, love all of God’s creation, love people and serve them, and work to remain faithful to Jesus Christ while they wait for His return. True Christianity has within it the life-giving blood of Jesus Christ and Christians will use what Jesus has given them to share that life with others. That’s living your life incarnadine, the color of blood, the blood of Jesus Christ.