It’s Burning
I only recently became aware that there were large fires in different regions across the world including the Amazon, Siberia, Greenland, and some parts of southern Europe.
I read a few news sources and they say the Amazon is known as the Earth’s lungs and produces up to 20% of the world’s oxygen. It’s a terrible thought to lose the ability to breathe properly. The biodiversity in the Amazon forest is also lost due to these fires. The Earth isn’t looking too good going forward. There is also much heat in the political arena between powerful countries (e.g. the US vs Iran) and political ideologies (e.g. far left vs far right).
Jesus predicted that humanity’s selfish choices would destroy the Earth and create mounting conflict between the nations in Matthew 24.
In the midst of all these happenings we can be consumed by fear and uncertainty of the future.
But the Bible reminds us that we do not have to face these troubled times alone.
We can be like the three Hebrew boys in Babylon who chilled in the intense heat with the Son of God (Daniel 3). They were tied up going into the fire but gained total freedom when they gave up their lives for God.
The fire burnt up the ropes that bound them but did not harm the faithful young men.
In the same way, while the world is getting hotter and hotter literally and symbolically, we need not fear. We can go through the refining process and receive freedom from experiencing the presence of our Lord. Our experience will be like the disciples. “And they said to one another, ‘Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?’” (Luke 24:32).
That is the kind of fire we want burning.
