Doing Well For Yourself By Doing Good For Others
I love terrariums. In fact, I own a terrarium shop in Silverton. But this is not an ad and so, I will say no more about my business. But I do love terrariums and I’d like to share something with you that I have learned from my work in creating them.
Success with a terrarium begins with keeping everything clean. The plants, the glass container, the rocks, the mosses, everything has to be free from contamination by diseases, insect pests, and aggressive molds. These nasties will destroy a terrarium. If any of these bad guys get inside a terrarium they will slowly take it over and thrive at the expense of the plants. First it will get really ugly.Then it will die. So, I have to do whatever it takes to keep the nasties out.
Doing Well by Doing Good
In a properly planted terrarium every living thing is doing well for itself by doing good for others. First, the microorganisms living in the soil will be constantly composting the soil, breaking it down into it’s basic elements and so releasing the carbon dioxide that the plants need in order to thrive. The plants then transform that carbon dioxide into sugar and oxygen by a process called photosynthesis. The sugar and oxygen are needed by the microbes in order for them to thrive.
This cycle of provision is what botanists call a “symbiotic relationship.” Both life-forms, the plants and the microbes, thrive because they are providing what the other one needs. This mutually beneficial relationship works so well that the oldest terrarium on record, which is in The Guinness Book of World Records, has not been opened now for over 60 years!
So, What Does All This Have To Do With Us?
As I said, every living thing inside a healthy terrarium is doing well for itself by doing good for others. Well, that is the way the entire world is supposed to work. We are all to have a place in God’s grand design, and it is a very good design where we all get what we need simply by doing what is good for one another. Jesus commands us to love one another. We are supposed show our love for Him by loving our neighbor as ourself.
Inside my terrariums, when any life form insists on doing well for itself by only doing harm to everyone else, I call that a nasty disease or a pest, and in my line of work, I have to intervene to arrest its progress. If I don’t, it will break the entire ecosystem of my terrarium. Sometimes it get’s so bad I have to empty out the terrarium entirely and start over, saving whatever I can and then, replanting it so that everything get’s back into balance.
It may come as a surprise that we are all living inside of a huge terrarium called Planet Earth. In our planetary terrarium, the same ecosystem operates, and we all enjoy the benefits it provides. Air, water, and food are ample. The system works as a glorious display of God’s wisdom and goodness as its Creator.
Tending The Garden
However, in the terrarium in which we live, we have a part to play. Our assignment from the very beginning has been is obey God by taking care of the earth just as we would a garden. Our stewardship comes with important responsibilities. As a race of beings created in the image of God, we are intended to do, by means of our intentional obedience to God, what the animals do by instinct. Like all of God’s Creation, we too are intended to bring Him glory— doing well for ourselves by doing good for others. That is the only way we are permitted to thrive in this world that God has made.
But in this large terrarium of Planet Earth we have a serious problem. As happens once in a while in a few of my terrariums, a foolish life form now insists on doing well for itself by primarily doing harm to others, taking what they want from others while refusing to give back anything of benefit to those who make it possible for them to thrive. These fools are rebelling against the purpose for which God created them. They are nasties. Of course, I am speaking of people, and God calls all their foolishness, “sin.”
In an environmental context we can call this sin “pollution.” In family we call it “neglect” or “abuse.” In sexual relationships this sin has many names, such as “rape, fornication and adultery.” In society as a whole we call sin “crime” and “violence.” In business and politics we call it “graft, fraud, and corruption.” In a school we might call it “being a bully.” But the worst of all sins is the sin of rejecting God’s offer of grace and mercy through Christ. Sin is aways the same problem. It is proud rebellion against God, against His good design in Creation, and against His offer of salvation in the gospel.
Enough is Enough!
When this rebellion against God takes over the world (as it has) it becomes like one of my terrariums that need to be emptied out and replanted. That is what God did through Noah’s flood (Gen. 6-9:19). That is also what He is going to do again when Christ returns to judge the earth. But this time He’s going to use fire.
In 2 Peter 3:10-13 we read, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up… Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”
God is going to hit the reset button on the universe. This corrupted world will be burned up and a new universe will takes its place. The question is, “Where will we be then?”
We All Need to Be Saved.
Ever since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden all Mankind has fallen short of the glorious standard God set for us. We have all sinned. We have all failed to love God and love one another as we should. That is why we all need to be rescued, forgiven, and restored to fellowship with God. As Jesus told us in John 3:16, “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” That means whoever repents and believes in Jesus will be forgiven and saved. But this faith is the kind of faith that is eager to obey Jesus’ command to love one another. If God is going to empty out the universe and start over with a new heaven and a new earth where only those who love God may dwell, where will that leave you? If you die before putting your faith in Jesus, you will not be there to enjoy the new world that is coming. There will be no heaven for you.
Repent & Believe
You are not in a hopeless situation. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, He paid for all our sins, including yours if you believe on Him. When His Heavenly Father raised Jesus from the dead, it proved that Jesus’ sacrifice was accepted as full payment and that now God can welcome everyone He chooses to come to Him and be forgiven. Everyone He draws will be restored to fellowship with Him as a child of God. It’s not too late for you to get in on God’s offer. Let go of your stubborn unbelief. Trust in God. Repent of your sins. Admit that you need Him. Believe this good news. And then, start showing your love for God by the way you love your neighbor. Or, in other words, start doing well for yourself by doing good for others.
Questions? Contact me at 971-370-0967.
Or, if you like, I’ll be happy to meet with you at the Broadway Commons Coffee House in downtown Salem. I station myself at a large table there every Thursday morning from 9 to 10am to meet with my readers and host a Q&A Discussion about whatever anyone wants to talk about.
So, bring your questions, comments and even your complaints and we can look for Christian Worldview answers together. Hope to see you there.
