Sonja Stojanovic – Nis, Serbia

It’s been really bothering me lately how the world has become such a chaotic place. I open my phone and see headlines about mass killings, political turmoil, poverty and war, and it’s so challenging to process all of that information. I think of Edik and Liana facing the conflict in Ukraine, and others like them. I find myself asking questions like: how much longer can this chaos continue? When is God going to intervene? What can we (the church) do? What can I do? And so on…

While I was in my small garden recently, reflecting on some of these things, I remembered that 5 years ago when we moved into our house, our garden did not exist, or rather, it was a mass of thorns and rubbish – it even, weirdly, had some old bed frames on the garage roof supporting some grown-out vines. Proper chaos.

Before and after pics of our garden…order from chaos

When God created everything, he did it by starting with a formless void (Genesis 1:2), and then shaping it with his Word. Chaos became order. In the same way, our lives are a formless void until God’s Word, Jesus, comes in to bring life and peace, beauty and order. 2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us that we become new creations.

Jesus tackled the chaos of sin in our lives head-on at the cross, and we, as new creations, can somehow bring order in the world around us. I’ll never be able to resolve world hunger, or provide a home for every refugee that needs one; I can’t change the whole world. However, I can change the world around me, one person at a time, by reflecting the love of Jesus and being his hands and feet, by serving and loving faithfully, by being honourable and dignified in the way I carry out my business, and by going the extra mile, even when it hurts a little.

We are world changers – it’s a natural consequence of being changed. Let’s remember who we are in the chaos of this world and look to the day when our God will wrap it all up and we will be with Him forever.