Is the world good or bad? Both, depending on where you look. In this Sunday message from May 7, 2023, Pastor Linda Reese began a series on the world we live in, a mix of real beauty and real ugliness.

A beautiful world

“O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!” (Psalm 8:1, KJV). Creation testifies to God’s power. Many psalms were sung, and a lot of Scripture has been set to music so we can remember it, like Ephesians 4:32, “be ye kind one to another.” God also gave people the job of caring for His world, the same way we take responsibility for a pet: feeding it, walking it, looking after it.

Scarred by sin

Crime, pollution and war are scars on that beauty, and they go back to the garden. God gave Adam and Eve everything and one rule. Pastor Linda compared it to telling a child not to touch the cookies until next week. They didn’t wait. In Genesis 3:16-19, sin brought pain, hard work, thorns and thistles, and death: “for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.”

The damage didn’t stay in the garden. Paul describes spiritual wickedness at work in the world, which is why we’re told to “put on the whole armour of God” (Ephesians 6:11-12).

Made new in Christ

God still has a plan for this world and for us. Through Jesus He made “peace through the blood of his cross” to reconcile all things to Himself (Colossians 1:20). Peace means harmony restored. Reconciled means what stood between us and God has been removed.

If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV)

So Pastor Linda asked: can people look at me and tell I’m a Christian? Take that question home this week. Examine your heart, and draw close to God, as close as a husband and wife.

The series continues in Fighting Evil in the World. Want to talk with someone about starting over with God? Reach out.