"Beyond Our Fragile Planet."

"Beyond Our Fragile Planet."

“’But the days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I will punish her idols… Even if Babylon reaches the sky and fortifies her lofty stronghold, I will send destroyers against her,’ declares the Lord.”  [Jer.51:52, NIV]

Stephen Hawking has spoken. Like a 21st Century prophet, the British cosmologist has declared that space exploration is the key to saving humanity, since we are not likely to survive another 1,000 years “without escaping beyond our fragile planet.”

C’mon. You seriously expect me to buy into the idea that we’re going to figure out how to bail ourselves off this rock and go somewhere else when we’re not bright enough to clean up the poop in our own back yard that trashed this one in the first place? [I know, pastors aren’t supposed to write like that, but it’s truth, isn’t it?]  Better yet, if we COULD go somewhere else in the universe and start over, what’s the filter to keep us from starting the whole destructive process all over again? That’s the real issue. Sounds to me a whole lot like Noah and his boys with their families. The problem is not with the process of reconstruction but with the DNA -- the sample is tainted.

And that, my friends, is what the Jeremiah passage reflects. It reminds us of Genesis 11 and the tower of Babel while looking forward to the arrogance of Babylon and her astrologer armies. These are idols, no doubt, along with others of wood, silver and gold. But our idols today take on other forms, as well. They’re digital, computerized, flashy, and sometimes do nothing more than take up space on our calendar to drag us away from Godly priorities in life. And wrong priorities are deadly. They’re like trying to build a rocket ship when all we really need to do is clean up the back yard. 

Which is what God has done in His Son. That’s what the Cross and Resurrection is all about. “At just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” [Rom.5:6,8] The key to saving humanity, contrary to the brilliance of Hawking, is not going somewhere else to start over but staying right here and regaining our center in the grace of God through Jesus Christ, Who makes all things new.

Hawking is right about one thing, for sure: this is a fragile planet. Furthermore, God has placed us here as stewards, managers of His creation, and He expects the best from us.  May we one day stand before Him to hear His voice proclaim, “Well done, good and faithful servant!” The alternative, to treat His creation with callousness and sloth, leaves us no place to hide. Literally.

Think about it.

- Jack