Entropy vs. Negentropy
‘Where there is no vision, the people perish: …’ Proverbs 29:18
A pastor wrote: ‘The second law of thermodynamics states this physical truth: If left to their own devices, everything in the universe moves towards disorder and decay. Cars rust. Food rots…It’s also called the law of entropy. The only way to prevent entropy is to introduce an outside energy source to counteract it. The technical term for this is negentropy, and the refrigerator is a good example. You plug it into an electrical outlet, and it produces cold air that keeps food from rotting. If the refrigerator gets disconnected from its energy source, entropy will take over again. And things will get smelly.
This is what happens when we get disconnected from God.
Life moves towards decay and disorder. So, to overcome our entropic tendencies, Solomon said in Proverbs 29:18 ‘Where there is no vision, the people perish.’ If sin is entropy, then investing our energies in a God-sized vision is negentropy.
The word “perish” comes from the Hebrew word para, and “entropy” is a fair translation.
When our vision isn’t big enough to demand all our energies, we focus on petty problems to keep us busy.
If we had a larger vision of what God wanted to accomplish in us and through us, our problems would diminish because we are consumed by a cause greater than ourselves.