2020 Vision
20/20 vision isn’t perfect. It is far from perfect. 20/10 is better and 20/30 is worse. There actually isn’t a perfect vision because no one can achieve perfection, so in a sense, every vision is on the same level due to them all not being perfect.
2020 hasn’t been perfect. It’s been horrible. I hate it. Yet, the interesting aspect of this year is that despite its outcome and downfalls, it is no more or less horrible than 2019, 2018, 2017 and so on. 2021 will be just as polluted and disgusting. 2022 will be another year full of illness, debate, death, brokenness. 2023 we will see the news riddled with stories of people killing each other. A police officer will be murdered in the line of duty. A white man will kill a black man and vice versa. A Hispanic military member may be killed overseas while serving their country. An honest, hard working Arab farmer may be killed from collateral damage. 2024 may bring another virus that claims lives, cancer will kill millions more and others will be killed in an auto accident. In 2024, we will be two thousand and twenty fours years past the time Jesus entered the earth. The clocks keeps ticking and history has shown that it never, ever stops.
Time is constant. Time hasn’t stopped since God decided it would start. Since it has started, it is beyond the human’s comprehension to understand if it will ever stop. The human race is constant. It’s been constant since the 6th day of creation. Authentic creation is constant — the oceans, the continental makeup of the earth, the sky, the moon and the sun have been here since the start and aren’t going away — despite what the genius scientists who have the gift of foresight think. While these constants may be viewed as interesting, mind boggling or obvious, they aren’t the constants that drove this year of 2020 into madness. This year’s despair was not driven by hatred, the evil left-winged liberals, the hyped up virus, power hungry officials, or the death of the player we’ve seen closest resemble MJ. So, if it wasn’t miraculously driven by any of those, then what was it?
Sin.
Sin is constant. It is the evil constant. It festers in our blood and in our souls. It is our nature. We are sin. We contain it, it is within us. You cannot work it out. You cannot physically remove it. It is what makes the terrorist no different than the thief who is no different than the prideful who is the same as the liar. It puts the richest man on the same level as the poorest man. Sin’s constant presence in our human nature is what makes everyone the same in God’s eyes. It’s the constant that makes the downfall of the human race the downfall of the human race. Sin drives evil and evil drives sin. 2020 has been orchestrated by sin and the media has only worsened its effects. It is sin that drives the white man and the black man to kill each other. It is sin that causes the police officer to incorrectly apprehend a suspect. It is sin that a criminal would inflict harm on a police officer or their family. It is sin that a misinformed individual would wish to Defund the Police. It is sin that the Democratic Party wishes to gain power by lying to the poor. It is sin that the Republican claims to be conservative while promoting a socialist agenda. It is sin that killed Kobe, and it is sin that will one day take us from this earthly life. It is sin that caused the media to use a virus to instill unnecessary panic and fear into the American people. It is sin that a child crossing the border looking for freedom while escaping a corrupt government is trapped in a cage, like an animal. It is sin that causes millions of infant deaths by abortion. It’s the same sin that causes the American to vote Pro Choice. It’s sin that causes the citizen to rebuke its authority that God has installed for a reason. It is sin that drives the problems in this world.
It is sin that makes 2020 no different than any other year. It will be sin that makes the next years no different than all of the previous ones. Yet, despite the consequences and terror of sin’s effects, there is comfort to be had.
This evil constant of sin is outweighed by a graceful constant. Sin drives evil and the hatred we see in this world, yes, but more importantly, it was absolutely destroyed by the graceful constant. The graceful constant’s name is Jesus Christ. Since the day the Lord sent His son to the cross to die for all sins past and present, there haven’t been “good days and bad days”, there have only been days of grace. On a seemingly horrible day by sight, smell, emotion and hatred, the most graceful day in the history of the universe churned out and saved the human race. Jesus was bashed, whipped beyond comprehension, literally tied and nailed to an uncomfortable, splinter wielding-wooden cross, wearing a crown of sharp thorns pierced into his head, suffocated by the crucifixion position, naked, the laughing stock of the misinformed and non-believers, instilled with the pain and emotional despair as he wore everyone’s sin, and was finally taken momentarily from the world by releasing His spirit.
It is sin that causes a whole array of actions and thoughts, it is sin that separates the human race from God. There is no escaping it, as previously mentioned, we are born with it. It is within our being. Therefore, God sent His only son. You know the verse, the verse everyone seems to know or has heard yet have no idea how important it is. It was in the moment that Jesus died and rose again three days later that sin was obliterated. It was destroyed. There are numerous songs and quotes speaking of death having no more power and sin having no more reign — it’s because of Jesus. It is ONLY because of Jesus. He is the way, the truth and the life. He is not a way, a truth, or a life, He is the way, the truth, and the life. Nobody makes their way to God except through Him.
“There are neither good days nor bad days, there are only days of grace.” Anonymous.
Don’t buy into the panic and fear of 2020. Today is no different than yesterday and tomorrow won’t be any different than every following day for the rest of your life. They were, they are, they will be days of grace. They are gifts from the Father. The children’s song you practiced in church growing up is no joke, this is the day that the Lord has made — let us be glad and rejoice in Him.
Express your anger towards the deceitful authorities, grieve for your losses, protect your elderly relative that could reap the serious consequences of an illness, be willing to fight for freedom and to defeat evil. God is sovereign, yes, He is behind it all. He was, He is, He will be there. Don’t sit back and lazily watch while others fight the good fight. More importantly, never lose sight of the Gospel and the good news of Jesus. If you are without that then you are lost and the way of sin leads to death.
Do not let 2020’s fear and outcome rule your heart, mind and actions. Turn off CNN and Fox News and learn from the Bible instead. It is there you will understand where evil comes from and how we are supposed to overcome it. Before the end arrives, the Bible explains that every knee will bow and every tongue confess Jesus Christ is Lord.
Do it now or do it later.
Picture by Colin McDonnell
https://www.metrotimes.com/detroit/why-did-michigan-get-hit-by-the-coronavirus-harder-than-its-neighbors/Content?oid=24382884
