•4:30 PM
THE GREATEST DISASTER
Anyone who loves to fish or just go to the gulf or to any of the major beaches in the United States can enjoy their beauty. I used to go fishing, although I was not just going to catch fish because I have never been that good of a fisherman. As a child my equipment was a stick, string, and a “fishing worm”. Later, I graduated to a cane pole with hook, line, and sinker. I fished because I enjoyed the breeze that came over the waters whether on the banks of a river or pond or in the salt waters of the gulf. As a boy it was something fun to do; as a man it was a time to relax and fellowship with friends. I can understand why those who make their livelihood from fishing see the oil spill as a great disaster. It is to them a great disaster, but not the greatest that has happened or is happening to our country or mankind.
Even though I enjoy watching many water animals in their natural habitat from a safe distance, I have no desire to grab an alligator by the tail as I saw a little nine year old girl do in the news recently. Nor do I want to swim among the sharks, or ride the back of a killer whale. However, there is a certain intrigue in watching them swim and survive and it is a disaster when their environment no longer provides for them their space for living. When watching “nature” you see the beauty of God’s handiwork, “…Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these” Matthew 6:28-29 KJV
The destruction of any of the beauty that God has designed in nature is a disaster but we do it every day when we build of homes, parking lots, highways, and skyscrapers. We call this survival! But I do not want to be a hypocrite because I enjoy modern technology, air conditioned homes, and comfortable cars. These are things we have that infringe upon the habitation of our wilderness community. When human life is lost it is a tragedy but when nature is disturbed it is not the greatest of disasters.
Jesus said, “Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows” Luke 12:6-7 KJV. God is very much aware of what is happening to our environment and the animals of nature but He is also aware of what is happening to the most valuable of His creation-man. We are very divisive as to what is happening to our environment, spending much time debating who is to blame due to our concern of our life on earth. The greatest disaster of all disasters may be just around the corner-the “Last Day” of time as we know it.
The days of perilous times are here when “men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accuses, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof…” II Timothy 3:2-5 KJV.
Governments are passing laws to make such acts acceptable and those who claim to be the Lord’s people are making compromises. Even those who do not compromise display an attitude of indifference paying little attention that the greatest disaster of all is going to start with the church (I Peter 4:17) in which, “the Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth” Matthew 13:41-42 KJV.
The greatest of all disasters will be “THE LAST DAY”. “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.” II Peter 3:10 KJV.
While we worry about nature and things of the world, are you ready for the “DAY OF THE LORD”?
To be lost eternally will be the greatest of ALL disasters (II Peter 3:11).
Bro. Roy Beaty/Sugar Land Church of Christ (Sugar Land, TX)
