Mandate: Contending With Chaos in 2014
by Jim Hodges
Clash Daily Guest Contributor
As a New Year begins, we hope it will be better than the previous one. While hope is a strong force, we also need practical faith-filled strategies to advance into our future.
In the bigger picture, we see history is the story of the interaction between order and chaos. In a fallen world, there will always be tension between them. This has been so from the dawn of creation. The Lord God Himself is the original Contender with chaos. Genesis 1:2-4 introduces the conflict: “…the earth was formless and void and darkness was over the surface of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said: ‘let there be light’, and there was light. And God saw that light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness”.
Please note that chaos is not when light is facing darkness. Chaos is when light and darkness are not separated. By the way, theologians don’t fully explain how the earth, which God created, was formless (unstructured), void (empty), and had darkness over the waters. This condition was probably the result of the Fall of Lucifer from heaven to earth. (See Jeremiah 4:23-26. Here Genesis language is used to picture judgment). I think we would generally agree the fall of Lucifer (Satan) and the fall of man (Adam) opened the door to chaos in God’s created order.
If the Lord God contends with chaos, so must we! We are sons of the day, and with Chuck Colson’s book in mind, (Against the Night), we, the Church, must become the vehicles for the Kingdom Order of our God to restructure the earth of our generation. Our task is not to lament the presence of darkness; our task is to resist the amalgamation of light with darkness!
As 2014 unfurls, we observe much chaos. We must contend with cultural chaos where disorder is presented as normalcy. As our culture rejects the normal and natural order of things, as defined by our Creator, we seek to live according to His order in all aspects of life.
We certainly face political chaos in our nation. The disarray and dysfunction of many of our elected leaders have brought uncertainty and made it very difficult to plan for the future. This, of course, requires us to hear from heaven and receive practical guidance on how to advance in this season of chaos.
Then, of course, we also face and must contend with spiritual chaos. Equivocation, compromise, and political correctness have muffled the voice of a number who represent the Gospel in our culture. We need voices which are bold, kind, articulate, and accurate to overcome spiritual disorder in our nation.
The Kingdom order of our God will prevail over chaos. Meanwhile, we contend and overcome!
Image: Courtesy of: ToniVC; http://mbastory.tistory.com/561
Jim Hodges is a much-in-demand author, international speaker and founder/president of the Federation of Ministers and Churches International/Duncanville, Texas. Jim has founded and led churches in Kansas, West Virginia, and Texas. For several years he was professor of New Testament Studies and Missions Director at Christ For the Nations Bible Institute in Dallas, Texas.
