CHRONIC ENTROPY
Morning Devotional June 27, 2012
These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of god cheer, I have overcome the world. John 16:33.
I was out walking in the Michigan chill before sunrise, mulling over the spate of nonstop headlines we’ve become accustomed to of late. And as I brooded over it all, two words came to mind. “Chronic” (as in chronic cough or headache)---because how else can you explain the incessant, seemingly interminable march of bad news that’s become our daily fare? And then alongside “chronic” popped the word “entropy”---a word scientists have tucked into the second law of thermodynamics to describe the gradual disintegration our universe experiences, slowly but surely degrading toward disorder. “Chronic entropy” then becomes a fitting description of life on the planet these days, incessantly marching toward disintegration. Wouldn’t you agree?
It’s not very cheery notion, I understand. Which is why alongside this couplet we need to quickly affix another. Because if we read the apocalyptic portions of Holy Scripture correctly (Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21, along with Daniel and Revelation), the chronic entropy that they all describe is but the harbinger of the second advent of Christ and the eventual restoration of an entire cosmos previously destined for disintegration. And that means that the most broken of the headlines we’re living with these days---from economic and moral meltdown of society, to ecological and ecclesiastical disintegration of the world---all of it is prophetic assurance that on the heels o the “baddest” news comes the promise of the greatest news of all, the soon return of Jesus, “Chronic entropy.” Meet another couplet: “blessed hope!”
No wonder, on the very eve of His own death, Jesus could call us to such buoyant confidence: “In the world you’re going to face one debilitating headline after another---but never mind, be of good cheer, for I have overcome the chronic entropy of this age; and I am coming back for you” (see John 14:1-3; 16:33).
Ponder this reflection of Jesus’ promise: “Whenever may be the tribulation that shall come upon us in the world, we are to be of good cheer, knowing that Christ has overcome the world. We will have tribulation in the world, but peace in Jesus Christ. Turn your eyes from within, and look to Jesus, who is your only helper” (Review and Herald, May 19, 1896).
“Chronic entropy,” meet the Savior, and be of good cheer! (The Chosen by Dwight K. Nelson, p. 189).
God bless us all!