Life and Death part 1
I heard a preacher say one time, "We make everything out to be a heaven and hell issue... when really most things are life and death issues!" And his point was that we spend so much time thinking about the afterlife that we miss out on the life we have right now. And I'm not going to get into what I believe about heaven and hell right now, but I AM going to spend the next few days talking about life and death. And I want to start by linking two memory verses together. Ephesians 2:1, "And you hath he quickened, who we were dead in trespasses and sins." 1 John 3:14, "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death." What I think its important to notice is that, in both cases, death came first. Remember how God told Adam that on the day he ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil he would surely die? And at that time Adam was, in a sense, standing as humanity's representative. We were "in" Adam, so to speak. What happened to him happened to us. So when he died--a Spiritual death, because his physical body lived for hundreds of years after that fateful day--we died. From that point on humanity was dead in trespasses and sins. The walking dead. Going through the religious motions trying to earn something that couldn't be earned. But God quickened us. Brought us out of that death and into life through the cross. The second death that lead to the new birth. The death OF death. So that we could live. Truly live. So that we could live Jesus' abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life as Jesus lives it in us, and through us, and as us. So that we could experience the gift that God gave us when He gave us His only begotten Son. So that, by beleiving in Him--believing in LOVE--we could stop perishing and have everlasting life. Let me say it this way: Before the cross (and, individually, in our own lives, before we were awakened to this glorious truth of the gospel) we were "living" but we weren't fully alive. Because to truly live is to love. And to live is to truly live. You can't have one without the other, because they are not just connected... they are the same thing. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, right? And God is love. So love is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Let me say that again: Love IS life. And while we're wasting our life waiting to die so that we can be transported to some place called "heaven..." what we ought to be doing is experiencing the days of heaven on earth. Enjoying the gift we've been given by giving it away. By sharing it. We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love each other. That's the New Commandment--to love one another as Jesus has loved you--and that's the proof of life. Think about how lifeless you feel when you convince yourself that no one loves you. I know you've probably done it. I surely have. You get burned by someone and you just shut down. You feel numb. Listless. Lifeless. But then think about those times when you've really gone out of your way to love someone. The joy you give to them that resonates in your innermost being. That's when you feel most alive. Not when you get something, but when you give what you've got. When you give the LOVE that you've got. When you give the love that you ARE. Life is a life or death issue. And its all about love!