When I was young, I noticed how older people would often tell the same stories or talk about the same subjects over and over again. Now I'm an older person, I find myself doing it too; repeating stories and subjects. A few weeks ago I was talking to someone about my magazine articles and I realised how often I write on the subject of death! I don't think I have a particularly morbid interest in death, but I am fascinated by people's beliefs about death, especially those who don't identify themselves as being 'religious.' And so, despite Good Friday being a perfect opportunity to talk about death again, I'm going to restrain myself and instead focus this month on Easter and on life.
As Brucie said, “life is the name of the game” and this is certainly true of the Christian faith: the most famous verse in the Bible, John 3:16, tells us that “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.” Jesus talks about the small gate and narrow path that leads to life, which only a few find (Matthew 7:14) and declares that he is the way, the truth and the life (John 14:6). He says that “my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son [Jesus] and believes in him shall have eternal life” (John 6:40). But this eternal life is not 'pie in the sky when you die' Jesus also says “I have come that [those who listen to me] may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10). Indeed, Peter describes life without belief in Jesus as an “empty way of life” (1 Peter 1:18).
We all have a deep yearning for life (dare I say that this is why even those who are 'not religious' cling to a belief that life continues in some way after death?) because God did not create us to die. The apostle Paul reminds us that death came into the world through the sin of Adam, but that Jesus' death atoned for sin and his resurrection brings new life in the present and eternal life in the future to those who believe in him (Romans 5 and 6). Thus what was lost in the Garden of Eden is restored and the new heavens and the new earth described in Revelations 21 and 22 are characterised by life in intimate communion with God.
We yearn for life because God has placed eternity in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11). But we often look for fullness of life in the wrong places - in family, jobs, achievements, wealth, popularity, health or... But, as the angels said to the women at Jesus' tomb that first Easter day “Why do you look for the living among the dead?” (Luke 24:5) So if you want life, come to Jesus who is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25).
