Judges 2:10-14; Matthew 5:43-48
God’s common grace grants advancement to various peoples and civilizations. Some civilizations maintain what history teaches, while others break history into fragments. In times of doubt, failure, and poor leadership, societies decline. At other times, good leadership and new discoveries bring advances that benefit civilizations.
No society, continent, people group, race, or religion holds a monopoly on finding or developing new discoveries. It is a huge challenge to clearly see the future and meet its challenges. Likewise, we cannot say what a different inventor, or a different culture, might have done with the alphabet, the telephone, gunpowder, or penicillin. Christians need to maintain a humble mind while viewing how widespread, and diverse, these advances are. In 1880, the Christian philosopher and statesman Abraham Kuyper said the following: “There’s not a square inch in the whole domain of human existence over which Christ, who is Lord over all, does not exclaim, ‘Mine!’” AZ Quotes (n.d.) There is not a square inch. Wherever they come from, improvements in life ultimately flow from the hand of God.
Upon reflection, please answer the following questions:
- From this lesson’s references, list major advances or improvements discovered in India, China, Europe, the Americas, and Africa which are now enjoyed by most people everywhere.
- What spiritual insight can the people of Africa, in particular, share to benefit the rest of the world?
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