What is the world coming to? Where is it headed? Will it last another millennium? Will there be nuclear war? A global ‘Armageddon’? What are we working for? Fighting for? What do we imagine our world could be? What could or should it look like?

Perhaps you find yourself indifferent to these questions. Not many of the billions of us on earth at this moment have the luxury of time, freedom and space to chew on these things. But if we do have the time, it’s worth a ponder. Competing worldviews coexist. Given the bleakness of so many contemporary newscasts, it should be obvious by now that they’re not all the same. Not everyone dreams of freedom. Not everyone dreams of racial and sexual equality. For some, the best possible world is one where women cover their faces, dress in black from head to toe and are denied education. For others, the best possible world is religious and economic freedom and the liberty to carry a gun. For still others it’s a world in which animals don’t suffer at the hands of humans, or humans at the hands of bankers.

Reasonable, twisted, tarnished or visionary, we’ve all got them. Even bloggers, politicians and porn stars operate within a worldview and it’s worth asking for each one, what sort of world is in view? What kind of world is being imagined or promoted? Is it a worldview that makes sense of the world as it is? Seeks to improve it, bless it, keep it? Or is it something different? Is it a worldview I want to participate in, or keep my distance from?

Whether we care about these questions or not, life is shaping us and we are shaping the world.

Conflicted and conflict-prone though they may be, for Christians, caring for the sick, the world and everything in it, working hard, resting well, laying down one’s life for others and loving neighbour and enemy alike are both the evidence and the means of a relationship with God. Christians believe in a world that’s messed up and hope for a world in which God will one day wipe away every tear (Rev. 21:4). Faith in action is meant to bring that day closer. Now that I’m reminded of this, it strikes me as simple that the business of life is to wipe away tears. No more crying, no more tears, no more mourning, pain or death…

Can you imagine?

Madi Simpson