Making the world a better place is widely regarded as a noble pursuit, even for Christians. And I have thought in the past, “I hope that when I die I will have made the world a better place,” as if that were the most important thing to do in life. I now realize it is not.
Let me just make one thing quite clear: this world is an awful place. Simply terrible. There are terrible people in it, terrible things happen, and our experience here is pretty terrible. And no matter how much energy one spends on improving it, it’s only going to get worse. Read Revelation.
The thing is, it doesn’t matter what our experience is like here on earth. Our time here is so miniscule when compared with forever, that all that matters during this short time is making sure of where we and the people around us will go when we die. Spending our time making this world a “better place” is like giving our friend an Iced Capp when they are hanging on the edge of a cliff by one finger.
I would prefer for someone to have the worst this life can offer, and spend eternity in heaven with me and my Saviour, than live a luxurious life made better by my presence, and spend eternity in hell, wishing I had loved them enough to make them uncomfortable while they were alive.
Now I am not advocating that we ignore the unbelievers’ non-spiritual needs. I am merely pointing out that if we care for people without the end goal in mind (seeing them in heaven one day), we may actually hinder their chances of salvation.
This idea applies to the church as well. In India, where the world is somewhat of a worse place than here in Canada, the church is actually much stronger for the hardship. Please let’s not try to make Canada an even better, more comfortable place, further weakening the church.
So let me encourage you - don’t make this world a better place. That’s God’s job, at the end when He makes a new heavens and a new earth. Your job is to make sure the people in this terrible world get to see that new earth, which truly will be a better place.
I really enjoy Adam Ford’s work.
This illustrates where our priorities should be: