When Empires Fall

It's all too easy to become so immersed in our social and economic systems, in the culture in which we live, that we end up believing that things have always been this way, and what's more, they always will be. Yet down through history, empires – indeed, whole civilizations – have come and gone. The most advanced, the most powerful … have disappeared leaving little more than ruins in their wake. In his great work "History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", Edward Gibbon writes: "The decline of Rome was the natural and inevitable effect of immoderate greatness. Prosperity ripened the principle of decay; the causes of destruction multiplied with the extent of conquest; and as soon as time or accident had removed the artificial supports, the stupendous fabric yielded to the pressure of its own weight." Decadence leads to decline, decline to decay, and decay inevitably to destruction. Look around at the world today. What do you see? And to what extent have you convinced yourself that it'll always be this way? Writes John the Apostle … 1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.  ESV God is eternal. The world is not. Everything that seems so alluring, so seductive today, is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.. That's God's Word. Fresh … for you … today.