All spheres of life —
family and friendship,
work and worship,
school and state,
play and art —
bear the wounds of our rebellion.
Sin is present everywhere–
in pride of race,
arrogance of nations,
abuse of the weak and helpless,
disregard for water, air, and soil,
destruction of living creatures,
slavery, murder, terror, war,
worship of false gods,
the mistreatment of our bodies,
and our frantic efforts to escape reality.
We become victims of our own sin.
In all our striving to excuse ourselves,
we stand condemned
before the God of truth.
But our world,
broken and scarred,
still belongs to God,
who holds it together and gives us hope.
Contemporary Testimony from the Christian Reformed Church 16,17