Are you looking forward to the day Jesus will return to Earth and make all things new? Imagine a world with no crying, no disease, no sin, and no death at all! Imagine no holes in your favorite pants, no paint wearing off your house, no spoiled milk, rust, or stinky garbage. We are used to quite different conditions! We live in a fallen world where things wear out and decay. Good thing we have decomposers to help clean up the mess.

On Earth, plants and animals die every day. But they don’t pile up. Decomposers break them down. Fungi, bacteria, earthworms, and insects all munch waste. These decomposers turn garbage into new, clean soil. It sounds like a dirty job. But decomposers are rewarded with what they need: energy. And their work allows that energy to pass on to other creatures in an ecosystem. Living food can grow out of stuff that lay dead only a few days before.

Did you know Jesus talked about decomposers? This should ring a bell: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on Earth, where moth and rust destroy.” (Matthew 6:19)

Are decomposers really destroyers? Yes. Nothing in this world lasts forever. Beloved homes and possessions wear away. And yet our perfectly wise God made these destroyers recyclers too.

Jesus promises to one day make all things new. But He has already started. Even now, many organisms and microorganisms are at work turning old into new.

The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning. — Lamentations 3:22-23