Are You Blessing the World?
In October 2000, two Israel Defense Forces reservists accidentally entered the Palestinian city of Ramallah. Palestinian Authority police took them to the local police station. Rumors that undercover Israeli agents were captured spread like wildfire throughout the city, and more than 1,000 protesters swarmed the station and overpowered the officers. Horrifically, they beat and stabbed the two Israelis to death and threw their mutilated and torched bodies out the second-story window. A photo circulated around the world of a Palestinian man smiling triumphantly, waving his blood-stained hands out the window to the cheering crowd below.
At the 2024 Academy Awards ceremony in March, several celebrities sported red, open-palm pins on their formal wear on behalf of Artists4CeaseFire. They explained their pins were a symbol for peace in Gaza. However, many others say the symbol originated from the blood-stained palms of the Palestinian who murdered the Israelis that October 2000 day.
How did we get here? How was an act so violent and evil proclaimed as good on a highly publicized award-show red carpet? Today, evil is running rampant. It is celebrated in our streets and schools. Day after day, our society erodes before our eyes.
Common Grace and the Wrath of God
God makes many blessings available to nations that obey His laws. Following these laws does not send individuals to heaven, yet the resulting blessings are God’s gift to communities that submit to Him. Many scholars refer to this undeserved favor from God as “common grace.”
The United States was built on a system of laws and rights, and its founders acknowledged that these standards came from God. Its justice system is responsible for punishing evil like murder, theft, and malicious behavior. American society was built by groups of individuals and families working together to make cities and towns prosper. God sees all of these actions as good, as the desire for them comes from Him. Sadly, as the United States collectively drifts away from God, His gift of common grace drifts away as well.
The apostle Paul wrote to the church of Rome while in Corinth, a prosperous city full of immorality. Reading Romans 1, we can envision Paul looking out his window as he described the fall of societies that oppose God. Immediately after sharing how the Good News of the gospel is offered to all, “the Jew first and also for the Greek” (Rom. 1:16), he gave the consequences of rejecting it: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness” (v. 18).
Many think of God’s wrath as a divine outburst or fit of rage that He turns loose on those who do not live by His strict rules. But the Greek word Paul used for wrath is orgē, meaning “slow-building.” As believers, we must trust in God’s sovereign timing. Our holy God will not allow evil to continue. His wrath is being revealed today to societies that reject Him.
The Consequences of His Wrath
Because God has revealed Himself to everyone since the dawn of man (vv. 19–20), people cannot look at His creation and deny His existence; they must actively suppress this truth. To put it bluntly, there are no true atheists. God has placed eternity in every person’s heart (Eccl. 3:11).
Rejecting Him brings the consequences we see today in our nation, communities, and even in some of our homes. Paul wrote, “Although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened” (Rom. 1:21). The rejection of God brings darkness to human hearts.
This darkness is part of God’s wrath. There is no peace for those with darkened hearts. They are blinded to what is good, believing it is evil. “Professing to be wise, they became fools” (v. 22). The downward spiral of unbelief begins with rejection and is manifested by loving what God hates.
Verse 24 contains some of the most chilling words in the Bible: “God also gave them up.” It’s almost as if God is telling these sin-seekers, “You want it? Okay, you can have it.” They are given over to sexual immorality; and even women, historically the last people to allow decay in a society, participate freely (vv. 26–27). They are then given over to a debased mind, incapable of rational thought (v. 28). British author C. S. Lewis rightly said, “[The lost] enjoy forever the horrible freedom they have demanded, and are therefore self-enslaved.”
What’s a Believer To Do?
Is there any hope? There is through Jesus. If you have been reborn through the transforming work of the gospel, you are a child of God. As His follower, you don’t stand on sinking sand like the world. You are firmly planted on a solid foundation, Christ Jesus (1 Cor. 3:11).
When we belong to Jesus, knowing our identity should change how we live in the midst of a society under the wrath of God. Paul wrote,
But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ (Gal. 4:4–7).
Our society may be under God’s wrath, but His children are not. This does not mean we are excluded from suffering and persecution; rather, it means we are never alone. Knowing our sovereign Father orchestrates everything in this world and works it out for our good (Rom. 8:28) should make us the most joyous people on Earth. But we must faithfully study the Word of God and live a Spirit-filled life to find this joy.
Be a Blessing
We don’t know who the Lord will draw to Himself. What we do know is we have a mandate to make disciples (Mt. 28:19–20). How do we make disciples in a world that opposes what God’s Word teaches?
Paul wrote, “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light” (Eph. 5:8). We are to be “blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom [we] shine as lights in the world” (Phil. 2:15). What an opportunity we have to be lights that illuminate the darkness!
When we obey God’s commandments, minister in our local churches, love our spouses well, raise our children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord, pray for our enemies, care for the poor, and love our brothers and sisters in Christ, we are walking blessings to this world.
This is not the time to be lazy or depressed about what we see. Paul lived in the midst of the degenerate, declining Roman Empire and set an example for us. Our response should match his: “If I am being poured out as a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all. For the same reason you also be glad and rejoice with me” (vv. 17–18).
The answer to society’s decline is not despair. It is walking humbly alongside our brothers and sisters in Christ, sharing the Good News with all. There is no better way to bless the world than to offer it Jesus, the greatest blessing of all.
