The use of plastic, paper and other packaging material is at an all-time high; and by extension, so is the waste of these products. For many years, the United States and other countries shipped much of their “recycling’” to China. Since 2017, China has stopped taking most recyclables, causing back-ups of trash and an increasing cost to cities which have recyclable programs. Growing up in the 90’s, everything was about recycling, but now we are starting to see the side effects, as no one wants to deal with the massive amount of waste. Many news articles show the negative impact recycling has had on the earth.
This is only one small instance of what we as human beings are doing to this earth. One only has to do a little research on-line to see the massive impact we are having on the destruction of this earth. From wrong farming practices to deforestation, when one looks at all the bad things that are happening as a whole, it can be depressing and demoralizing.
We know from Scripture that the end times will be terrible and brutal. Things we are seeing today will continue to grow worse. There is no end in sight either. So many of today’s wrongs are based on greed and feeding into people’s desire to get “more”. Our new free booklet “How Can We Know That Christ’s Return Is Near?” goes into great detail in looking at the signs of the times and helps to show how close Christ’s return is, when considering the things that are happening in the world. The wholesale destruction of the earth is but one facet.
God created earth and gave instruction to Adam and Eve to care for and to protect the earth. God is not pleased with the practices that we now see in effect. Revelation 11:18 states: “The nations were angry, and Your wrath has come, And the time of the dead, that they should be judged, And that You should reward Your servants the prophets and the saints, And those who fear Your name, small and great, And should destroy those who destroy the earth.”
We look forward to the coming Kingdom of God, when these practices will be changed; when people will learn from God how to properly take care of the earth; and when God will help to make massive changes for our planet. How excited does the plan of God make us? When we see the tremendous amount of things going wrong, does this cause us depression and fear? Or does it cause us to draw closer to God (James 4:8; 2 Chronicles 7:14; Jeremiah 29:13-14; Isaiah 55:6-7)? We should belong to those in the latter category, looking for and hastening the day of Christ’s return (2 Peter 3:11-13).
This world has nothing of real value to offer to us. We must come to the point where we see the issues and the errors of this life and really work for and pray for Christ’s return. When we observe the shambles of this world, compared with what God is saying will happen once the Kingdom of God is set up, it should cause us to really dig into what matters most. Christ’s admonition in Matthew 6:33 to “seek first the Kingdom of God” and what that means should be foremost in our lives. This life will attempt to distract us and sidetrack our efforts. But if we are awake and aware of what is happening around us, we will understand that our efforts in doing what is right and needed are not in vain, and that this is exactly what God wants and expects of us.
