True Sustainability

Sustainability


A lot is being said about sustainability these days. It is mostly in reference to the ability to replenish consumable resources without eventual depletion of those resources. We are being told that certain sources of energy are sustainable and others are unsustainable. That is some sources like wind and solar energy can be replenished and others like fossil fuels are not. While there is a tendency to see this subject discussed in terms of political opinion it also brings a very important theological consideration to the minds of those whose are inclined to think in a spiritual context.

What is true sustainability and in what form can it be found. The scientific community must search for this ultimate source in the natural world in as much as science is the study of things that are observable. The natural world then is that which can be observed with the five senses possessed by man and aids to those senses (microscopes, telescopes, radar, etc.)

The community of believers has a far greater arena of exploration than their strictly scientific counterparts. That is to say not only can the believer find truth in the things that are observed but also in the things that can be revealed. Science depends on that which is observed while faith invites revelation as well as observation as means of understanding.

True sustainability can only really be found in the realm of faith; science on its own is on a futile mission if a source of unlimited power is its quest. This source can never be found in nature. Even the tremendous energy produced by stars like our own sun is known to be limited; one day the fuel in these giant furnaces will be depleted and then what? Does life end? Is civilization doomed to a constant search for the next “inhabitable planet”. Even though the time spans suggested by the scientists are incredibly long the question still begs to be answered; is there a sustainable source of power in the observed universe? In as much as fuel sources are being depleted that answer is: No. The natural order of the universe is on a collision course with a cold dark future that can support no life.

It is not surprising that God would address this particular question early in the revealed truth of His Word. In Exodus the third chapter verse fourteen God tells Moses that he should tell the people of Israel that I Am that I Am hath sent him (Moses). Moses was asking God for an authoritive name to go to the people with. Later God would tell Moses that His name is Jehovah. Both “I Am that I Am” and “Jehovah” are to be literally translated as “I exist be cause I exist” or “the self existent one”. God is answering our question!

It would be proper after contemplation of these names to say that God sustains himself! He is self-existing therefore self-sustaining and furthermore the only true power or true sustainability is God. If it is sustainability that we search for let us look no further than the revealed God of the bible. And if it is a truly sustainable life that we search for let us look no further than the authoritive name that declares: the self existent one has become your salvation (sustainability). That name my friend is Jesus. Perhaps a loose but accurate translation of the Name Jesus is “I exist because I exist has become your sustainable life”. True sustainability comes from Jesus.