Washington Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

By Doug Bing, Washington Conference president

NASA has published a paper recently about the search for life on other planets.

More specifically the paper is a theory about why we have been unable to find life on other planets. In this paper NASA shared a quite depressing theory.

They theorize that we have not been able to find life because all other life in the universe has destroyed itself before it reached a level of sophistication that could even receive us if we did find them.

Depressing, isn’t it?

The paper goes on to state that life on this earth will also eventually face the same fate if we don’t turn things around. Also depressing, isn’t it?

Yet isn’t that what the evil one desires for this world. The Bible says that the devil is like a roaring lion seeking who he can destroy (1 Peter 5:8). He wants to not only rule your life but he wants to destroy your life and the lives of everyone on this planet.

The interesting thing about this is that while NASA has this theory regarding no life in the rest of the universe, they still are spending billions of dollars exploring space and looking for signs of life. Does that make you wonder a bit?

Maybe it is because we are not wired that way. We are wired to seek life. We are wired to live forever. We are wired in every way to extend life even in this world of sin and suffering we still seek. God wired us that way.

Ecclesiastes states, “He has also made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.”

Jesus came to restore the promise of life eternal.

That is why we have Jesus telling Nicodemus that God so loved the world that He gave his Son so that we can have life (John 3:16). That is why the book of Revelation tells us that God creates a new earth and that all things are new and perfect.

We have both hope and assurance as Christians that there is more to this world than a depressing idea that we all destroy ourselves.

Instead as Christians we can have the life and example of Jesus work in our lives to help us be a blessing and grow into the people that Jesus wants us to be. We can also point others to the fact that there is something more out there and bring hope and wholeness to others as we faithfully look to the skies to see our redeemer.

Let’s be thankful that we have that hope and assurance this Thanksgiving season - and share our faith from an abundance of gratitude.