Immortality

16) For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17) For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. - John 3:16 - 17


Compared to eternity, it goes without saying that our lives on earth don’t last very long. James describes it like a vapour, a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. God stands apart from His creation as self-existing in His immortality, but in the beginning, He created us with the intention that we would live with Him forever. That was destroyed in the Garden of Eden, but in His great mercy, God provided a way, through His Son, for us to go on living beyond this earthly existence and into His heavenly realm.

In 2 Timothy 1:9-10, Paul writes, “This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed, through the appearing of our Saviour, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.” The grace Paul refers to is the power of God who has saved us and called us to a holy life. But our lives are not designed for just the here and now. The Gospel reveals that the gift of God is eternal life, and eternal life is this: that we may know the one true God and Jesus Christ, whom He has sent. Proverbs 12:28 says, “In the way of righteousness there is life; along that path is immortality.”

Our sense of the sanctity of human life is determined by our understanding of the origin of life, which is in God Himself. We have seen the great atrocities of ethnic cleansing, which has taken place under dictatorships such as in Rwanda, the Sudan, former Yugoslavia and under Hitler’s regime. When there is no understanding that life was created by God, disregard for His creation becomes eventually almost inevitable.

Every person has value, and is brought into this world with the divine purpose of sharing in God’s immortality. God, Himself, came in the person of Jesus Christ to live among humankind in order to give us new life; not one that lasts as long as we’re on earth, but one that commences the moment we accept Him, and lives on into eternity. Without Christ, our world doesn’t make sense, and without the promise of eternal life, through Him who died for us, there would be neither sense nor purpose for this world.

PRAYER: Dear Father, I know that I am created by You with the divine purpose of living forever with You. As our time on earth is so short lived, that gives everything, from the people I meet to the situations I face, significant meaning. Thank You, Lord, for that enriched quality of life, which comes from You, and will continue into eternity with You. In Jesus' name, Amen.

(by Charles Price)

Be Blessed!
Dawn