Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
When you take food to the poor, that’s an act of worship. When you give a word of kindness to someone who needs it, that’s an act of worship. When you write someone a letter to encourage them or sit down and open your Bible with someone to teach them, that’s an act of worship.
Many years ago a friend gave me a bible study that focused on the repercussions of sin on our physical world. Our once perfect and peace-full planet that Adam and Eve governed together by communing with God was utterly destroyed. Thus, from then on and until Jesus returns – everything on earth tends toward destruction.
We can recreate beauty every day
Although I understood this concept intellectually, I had never connected this specific statement to the angst I felt as a young wife and mom who worked hard all day long and often into the night trying to create a beautiful space for my family. Reading it and then contemplating its truth gave me pause and eventually a great deal of comfort. It’s true – everything on earth tends toward destruction.
Love others through simple steps of service
Repeat that statement aloud. “Everything on earth tends toward destruction.” Does the scope of this truth hit you? I recall reading and rereading it until I understood what the author was trying to communicate. In my paraphrase, the author was telling Christians that you can give it your best effort but the material world will continue to deconstruct, decompose, and eventually die. Sounds dismal but it’s not. In fact, understanding that all my best efforts will eventually become dust encourages me.
Put your service into the repeat cycle
How so? Once I grasped the fact that all my efforts to create beauty and comfort and offer hospitality toward my family and others would have to be repeated over and over gave me the insight to the eternal I was missing. I remember believing that I was wasting my time cleaning the house, washing the dishes, doing the laundry, and making food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day year in and year out. I felt as though I was on the repeat cycle of my washing machine and it would never stop.
Step by step we can bring beauty to life
But then I realized I had to stop fighting the inevitable. Living in our sin-ridden, broken world meant I would have to labor every day for the rest of my life intentionally creating and recreating beauty for those I loved. It’s true, everything on earth does tend toward destruction – now. But – this sin-cursed principle ends when Jesus returns. Once the New Heaven and New Earth are created…death and destruction will be history.
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