When I realise that everything I have – my life, my family, my possessions, my health, my relationships – are ultimately a gift from a good and heavenly Father, my perspective shifts. When I realise that as a sinful, rebellious man I deserve eternal condemnation, not the life I’ve been given, I’m humbled and removed from the centre of life. When I realise the forgiveness Jesus has won for me – undeserved, eternal, unwavering – I feel joy.

The world is on fire.

Just look at Ukraine, Gaza, China and AI – there’s much to keep us up at night. Will the rules-based world order that has kept major conflict at bay for the last 70 years survive? Or will the new Trump administration’s ‘America First’ policy lead to a withdrawal from organisations like NATO? Some commentators are bullish about Trump’s foreign policy, while others predict the end of NATO and a more fractious, conflict-ridden world.

And then there’s AI.

As AI continues to advance, will it take our jobs and dehumanise us? Where will that leave our kids as they finish school and move toward entering the workforce? And what about China? President Xi Xingping has allegedly told his military to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. Will he order his troops to take the island?

There’s much to worry about in this uncertain world—the world really is on fire. But as I think and blog about these issues, I try to process them in a way that draws me closer to God and his goodness rather than toward despair and fear.

Here’s how I’m going about it:

1) I Need To Have the Right Expectations About Our World: Sinful Actions Might Shock Me, but They Shouldn’t Surprise Me

I’ve been traumatised from watching the news over the past 14 months.

The October 7 massacres plumbed a level of evil and brutality I could scarcely imagine. And not just by Hamas fighters, but also some everyday Palestinians and Muslims in the Middle East and Australia, who cheered on this atrocity.

Is this really the world we live in, I wondered.

Like many in the West, I’ve been immersed in the Enlightenment-era belief that the world is improving and progressing. Yes, we are improving in many areas, like technology, health, and wealth (with global rates of poverty falling precipitously over the last 40 years). And for this, we should praise God!

But morally, as humans, we’re cut from the same crooked timber as Adam and Eve.

And Jesus doesn’t give us any expectations of a world progressing. Instead, we’re to expect wars and rumours of wars (Matt 24:6-7). Sinful people will go from bad to worse (2 Tim 3:13). As they persecuted Jesus, so they’ll persecute us (John 15:20). We’re living in a world under God’s judgement (Romans 1), where God is giving humanity over to its sinful desires, leading to evil people doing evil things.

That’s the Biblical expectation.

And so, while I’m shocked by evil people doing evil things, I shouldn’t be surprised. This is ‘situation normal’ (as tragic as it is).

And if I expect evil to happen in this rebellious world of ours, I’ll more likely respond to it in a way that looks toward the only One who can bring a final end to this evil: 

2) Where I Look Affects My Reality. If I Look to the Risen Messiah, I’ll Be at Peace, As He’s Greater Than Any Tyrant or World Event

In my relatively short life I’ve realised something: what holds my attention governs my life.

If I’m looking to human politicians to solve my and the world’s problems, I’ll be on a never-ending rollercoaster of ups and downs, depending on their performance and on whether they’re in power. I’ll feel fear when tyrants rise. I’ll feel relief when ‘my party’ wins.

But human politicians are mortal and temporary. They can only do so much. Their power is limited.

But if I remember how big God is, then the world’s problems will always seem smaller – or rather, in the right proportion. And that tends to ease my fears, and bring me comfort.

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