In God

Habakkuk 3:16-19

Tomorrow morning, I will be preaching from the above text. My heart goes out to those affected by the attacks in Paris.

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The OT prophet Habakkuk lived in a time back in the 7th century B.C. when everything also seemed to be falling apart in his world. All around him he observed sin, violence, and injustice. Habakkuk saw a dying world and it broke his heart.

The world is going through tough times. When we think of the reckless wars and terrorism, the reckless shootings in Chicago and other cities, the increase in human trafficking, child abuse and womaen abuse, the immigration crisis and the economic difficulty most people are going through. My heart hurts!

In the middle of the fifth century, Augustine of Hippo, the great African theologian, wrote a powerful book called “The City of God.” He wrote this work in response to the dread and psychological strain that the people of the Roman Empire were enduring. Their empire was falling apart around them. In the year 410, Rome was attacked and breached by an outside invader for the first time in the 800-year history of the empire. As Jerome would write, “The city which has taken the whole world is itself taken!” It was not a crushing invasion, but it was the beginning of the end of the Roman Empire.

The people asked how and why and all the questions that people ask when things begin to unravel. Augustine answered these questions in his book. In it he wrote that within the Roman Empire, two 'cities' existed: the City of Man, which was society following its own desires and seeking material gain and the City of God, which was the community of Christians living according to their faith. In it he argued that “The City of Man is temporary and the City of God is eternal.” Even if our worlds fall apart, the city that shakes at its foundation will not be the City of God.

Join us tomorrow as we explore this further.

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