The world as we know it today is far away from the ideal world that God created. Romans 1:18-32 gives us a good picture of what has happened in the world since God created it. The reason for these problems is that sin entered God’s perfect world.
The world is bound
Further on in the book, in Romans 8:21-22, we read that creation itself will be “liberated from its bondage to decay” sometime in the future. So God obviously has a plan for the world as we know it. The physical world that we see has many problems, droughts, earthquakes, famines, volcanoes, floods… etc, etc. These things are all a result of sin, and God’s judgement upon sin.
People are not able to meet God’s standard
We can also see that mankind is seriously affected by the sin that is in the world. If we read the newspapers, they are a good illustration of the way people have fallen short of God’s standards – murder, revenge, anger, corruption, wars and fighting, greed and oppression, slavery, fraud, deceitfulness and lies…..these are just some of the things that we read every day in the news.
Love God and your neighbor
The Bible teaches, shows, advises people how they should live so that the world would be a better place to live in. Jesus was asked which commandment was the greatest commandment. Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest commandment and the second is like it, Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39). Jesus said that all of the law was summed up in these two commandments.
The world would be a better place
If you think about it, this is true – how different life would be if no one had to lock up their possessions because there would be no theft. How would it be if everyone always told the truth, from the highest people in the government to the youngest child on the planet? How would it be if everyone was satisfied with their wages, no workman ever asked for more money than the work done demanded. Take a minute to think about every area of our lives and how totally different things would be if everyone lived according to the Bible because we loved God, and are eager to live our lives in ways that please Him, and because we loved our neighbors as much as we loved ourselves.
Living according to the Bible is a full life
In John 10:10, Jesus compares Himself to a shepherd and His people to a flock of sheep. He says: “I have come that they would have life and have it to the full.” If someone thinks of something being full, it gives the impression of abundance, richness, no want, no emptiness, joyful, satisfied. This is the kind of life that God wants to give us. If we lived according to the Bible we would experience this kind of life increasingly. God promised the Israelites in Exodus 20:4-6 that God would bless those who obeyed him and also would bless their descendants for many generations. Whilst we are not the children of Israel, we can see that God blesses the families that obey and serve him. Living according to the Bible is the best way to live, and gives peace, joy and hope in a world where these are often rare commodities.