Long ago, when I was a kid in college, I was a biology major. Back in those days, we had to prove our salt as budding scientists by being able to list and describe the five laws of thermodynamics (the physical laws that describe how the universe works).

I can’t remember the other four laws, but the second law of thermodynamics got under my skin and I’ve never been able to quit thinking about it. The second law of thermodynamics is the “law of entropy”. Basically, it says that “everything falls apart eventually”.

When we look around us, we can see that the second law is always at work: an acorn falls into the ground, grows into a tree, eventually dies and falls down, and becomes part of the earth again…

Even suns, solar systems, and galaxies eventually die.

Whether we attribute this to Adam’s fall or that God wanted things this side of eternity to have a shelf life is up to the scientists and theologians. All I know it that, in God’s universe, the second law of the universe is working.

HOWEVER, God gave us humans some limited ability to push back on that second law.

In my job as a counselor, I saw the second law of thermodynamics at work in marriages. Good marriages, over long periods, can fall apart. However, those who continually work at growth, creativity, and caring for themselves and others, tend to break that law. Instead of crumbling, their marriage strengthens over the years.

That doesn’t mean we have the power of eternity. We humans live in temporal bodies, which are eventually subject to the second law of thermodynamics. We will someday leave our bodies and enter eternity.

Western culture and the second law of thermodynamics

I attended a conference this weekend, which was attempting to address our national polarization by becoming focused on creating a loving community within the body of Christ and our national culture.

One of the speakers briefly reviewed the history of great empires. Each of these empires had a shelf life. Eventually, the second law of thermodynamics took over, creating chaos and ending each empire.

This speaker proposed that we are seeing the same empire-ending chaos in Western culture, particularly the U.S. He was not trying to spread despair. Instead, he was proposing that if each of us did the good that God gives us to do, that good is greater than evil (Romans 12:21).

It reminded me of the work I have done with couples. Those who are willing to work at growth, creativity, and caring for themselves and others, do well.

Nations that are willing to work at work at growth, creativity, and caring for themselves and others have a chance to survive.

I invite you to think about the second law of thermodynamics. Do you see it at work in your life? Do you feel it at work in our nation?

If so, I invite you first to pray and meditate on the instructions Jesus gave to us, starting with Mark 12: 30-31:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’^[a] 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[b] There is no commandment greater than these.” (Biblegateway.com)

Then ask God what is yours to do that is creative or caring. Then start doing it. Daily.

Let’s do what we can to love God, our neighbor, and ourselves, and overcome evil with good. Maybe together we can hold back the second law of thermodynamics.