Let me start out by saying that this is not a post about global warming. Rather it is a point about our fear of being out of control. Ok, disclaimer made, post begins:
So, I was reading yesterday and came across a line about global warming taking place on Mars at the same rate as on Earth. The conclusion -- this is horrible, in fact the author used the word "extremely scary." Extremely scary he posits because if global warming is taking place on Mars at the same rate as Earth, than maybe people are not primarily responsible. And, he concludes, if we are not responsible, what hope can we have to fix it?
Scary? Maybe. Sure.
But, I think there is something deeper going on behind what the author wrote, deeper, and into the human soul; the fear that comes from the inability to control. If God is not in control, and we are not in control, then, well, we are on the preverbal roller coaster run out of control, and the chances of a good ending . . . not so much. But, what if God is in control? Well, then a whole new can of worms is opened up, a whole can of worms that call us to some sort of response -- acknowledgement, acceptance, denial rejection, something. And if acknowledgment and acceptance, what then?
Acknowledgment and acceptance of God's control -- or from the other side of things, our lack their of -- is not a call toward passivity or a deterministic fatalism, but a call to action. If God is in control, the opportunities are endless. If God is in control, the freedom is towering. Imagine, the creator of the universe, the holder of all power and authority, the sustainer of all life (that is the way the bible puts it and to me it sounds like a lot of control that is not in my hand) wanting to partner with you in his redemptive work here on Earth. Because he does.
God's plan throughout the bible is a plan of redemption -- taking the messy, broken, warming, death filled, poverty ridden, disease infested planet and being his agents of hope and redemption -- not alone, but partnering with God, partnering with the one who actually can control the outcome.
Maybe me not being in control is not so scary after all.
