Endangered Gospel

The prophet Habakkuk was repulsed by the fact that God chose Babylon to punish Israel (Hab 1). He agreed that Israel deserved punishing, but he couldn’t stomach God using anyone besides his “righteous” people to accomplish his purposes. God set him straight (ch. 2).
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- Note: As far as I can tell, God NEVER uses his “righteous” people to accomplish his purposes. So: when an opportunity arises to get involved with an effort to put God’s will into effect (through punishment, reward, building a movement, whatever) … RUN!
The tasks of keeping sin in check, meeting basic needs, and making the world a better place are crucial for human thriving, but they are tasks that God has assigned to ordinary human power structures.
God can always find wealthy benefactors and worldly rulers to meet needs and organize the masses. There will always be prosperous pagans, high-profile humanitarians, middle-class do-gooders, and upwardly mobile politicians who want to secure a lasting name by making this world a slightly better place. It appears to be God’s will to use such people to do this very thing, whatever their intentions may be.
But our role is not to fix the world for God. Our role, by the power of God’s Spirit, is to bear faithful witness to God’s saving work on creation’s behalf.