Denial

Today, March 22, is supposedly the second full day of Spring.  Which is why as I look out my window I see snow falling. The weather app on my phone is predicting accumulation of up to 2 inches, and the weather service has forecast 3 to 6 inches for parts of New Hampshire and Maine.  I know this is New England.  But right now I can sympathize with people who ask about the reality of global warming.  It sure doesn't feel warmer out there.

Of course, we know that is warmer just about everywhere else and that temperatures have been rising.  So, bleh, climate change is real.  But refusing to see the evidence all around us can be so easy, so tempting.  If we don't see something, part of our brains tell us, it's not happening.  Deny the problem and there is no problem.  Those of us who accept the reality of a changing climate can't understand why others don't.  But before we get to smug, what's going on with climate change denial is the same as what is going on with sin - our sin.  We tell ourselves what we're doing isn't that bad, that nobody should be able to judge us, that God will love us anyway.  But Scripture makes clear that despite God's love, it is in spit of our sin and that love will not protect us from the consequences of our actions.

We may not like sin, but the thing to do then is to try to stop sinning, not deny that we are sinning. Turn off a light, use less plastic, repent for your sins.  Otherwise, watch as islands and coast lines are submerged by rising seas, swamped - just as we will be by our sins if we leave them unacknowlegded and unaddressed.