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“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1 ESV

There has been a lot of discussion among Christians recently about the coming of Christ. From my earliest memories I can recall pastors proclaiming the nearness of Christ’s return and the need to get ready.

In recent days, as the world around us continues to be in chaos, many of us wonder if we are on the cusps of the end. The unbelievable events of our current situation should waken us to be watching for the end, but it must also remind us of the beginning.

The very first verse of the Bible is an essential reminder to each of us as we watch events unfold of God’s ultimate power and purpose. We can trust the Lord with what happens in our life and what happens in the world because he is the one who set all of life into motion.

Friends, this world is His! He made it, He created it, and it belongs to Him! If He was the force who started it, then we can trust Him to finish it!

What I believe is essential to know as well is God created all things, but we are the ones who have created the mess.

As always, the good news is He made a way through Jesus Christ to redeem our mess and bring order into the chaos of life.

Family of God, the mess we have today is still the result of sin. Sin leads to chaos, catastrophe, and death.

Unfortunately, we humans continue to think sin is not a big deal. In fact, we have convinced ourselves sin is not sin and sinful behavior is human uniqueness and should be tolerated and celebrated. We continue to believe a lie.

One of the reasons we come to this place is we have allowed a small scientific community over the past century convince the world God didn’t create, but the universe happened by accident. We take “in the beginning God,” out of our collective values, we then start the tumbling of dominoes towards total chaos. But, when we live, our lives continue to keep God in the beginning, we will always have hope for the end, whenever the end may come.

Keep your eyes on Him, don’t let the violence and chaos of the world convince you there is no hope.

Rev. Brad McKenzie is Lead Pastor at Orange First Church of the Nazarene, 3810 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Orange.