The top of Mt. Everest is littered with used oxygen tanks and other unnecessaries that climbing aficionados have unloaded before their final ascent to the top of the world.
Space ships dump human waste, garbage and excess fuel into the deep blackness of the galaxy during missions, sending thousands of pounds of trash swirling in the reaches of the universe.
Endless stretches of Belizean beach are cluttered with aluminum cans, plastic diapers, trash bags and other refuse that come from land and ocean alike, marring the perfection of God’s nature.
Highway volunteers flock to clean up stretches of interstate lined with litter from passing vehicles.
Wherever the human race goes—be it land, water or outer space—we leave a trail of trash behind.
Pack It In, Pack It Out
My husband loves to spend his free hours and days biking, hiking and climbing. He knows the number one rule for enjoying nature: leave it better than you found it. That means not only packing out every iota of waste you might personally bring or create, but also cleaning up where others haven’t been as responsible.
Before plastic bottles and bags of trash, sin made a mess of our perfect earth. Strewing death, destruction and hate in its wake, there was only one way to sweep the planet clean from evil—a one-Man clean up crew.
Jesus ventured to earth to reassemble the wreckage Satan made of the human race, bringing hope to a hopeless people. “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:17). Better than simply cleansing the earth from sin, God is creating a place better than we can ever imagine. In John 14:2 (b)-3, Jesus comforts his disciples, “ I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also..”
Through his sacrifice, we have future to look forward to. No longer covered in the filth of sin, Christ’s people can shine with the light of his perfect love.
He came to earth and left it better than he found it. And that’s good news for all of us.
