A World Worth Making New

Scripture: Colossians 1:19–20 (NIV)

Think of how much there is to discover in the world around us. A child watching something grow, someone exploring a place they've never been, or the pleasure of creating something with our own hands. There's always more to see, learn, and enjoy. Yet we seldom stop to wonder what all of this means to the One who made it. Does God see this world mainly as a place we're passing through, or does He have something more in mind for it?

The Bible gives us a surprising reason to ask that question. Writing about Jesus, Paul, one of His early followers, tells us, “all things have been created through him and for him” (Colossians 1:16). That includes the world we see, the life we enjoy, and the possibilities still waiting to be discovered. Jesus isn't a stranger looking in on a world that belongs to someone else. He has been part of its story from the beginning.

But we also know this world isn't everything it was meant to be. We see beauty alongside suffering, generosity alongside cruelty, and things that flourish alongside things that fall apart. Has God given up on what He made? Paul tells us that through Jesus, God intends “to reconcile to himself all things” (Colossians 1:20). Reconciliation means restoring something that has been disfigured or broken. God's answer to a damaged world isn't to abandon it. He's working toward making things right.

That changes how we might look at the world tomorrow morning. Jesus pointed to the birds and asked, “Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matthew 6:26). The people we meet, the places we care about, even the ordinary work of another day are part of a world God still loves. Paul describes creation as waiting to be “liberated from its bondage to decay” (Romans 8:21). Its present condition isn't its final destination. We don't have to pretend everything is right to recognize that God hasn't finished His work in us or in the world He made.

And what is God working toward? He gives us a glimpse when He says, “I am making everything new!” (Revelation 21:5). Not simply returning things to the way they were, but bringing about something we cannot yet fully imagine. That promise includes us, but it reaches far beyond us. Perhaps tomorrow we can look at something ordinary, or possibly broken, and remember that our present condition doesn't tell the whole story. The One who made this world hasn't stopped loving us, and His promise reaches further than we can see.

Prayer

Father, thank You that the world You made still matters to You, and so do I. Help me see more of what You see and enjoy being part of the life You're making new. Amen.