Eternal Life

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that is imperishable..." 1 Peter 1:3-4a

What do you make of the promise of eternal life? It comes to us as a gift from God through Jesus. But what is it? It's either hard or easy to wrap your mind around. For those of you who think it is what it says it is--that being eternal life--life eternal--live forever, then you're okay with it and that's fine. Good for you!

But if you have a hard time equating eternal life and our mortality--then here's a way of looking at eternal life that I heard or read once that has helped me over the "reality of death hump."

This scholar began by defining life as "having a future." Something that has a future is considered to be alive. A dog. A flower. You and I. Conversely, something with no future is considered dead. A dried up plant has no future, and is therefore dead. Likewise, when we pass away, we have no future--there is no tomorrow for us.

Or at least there wasn't--until Jesus rose and promised resurrection for us too. A sure and certain hope. So sure and so certain that it effects us today, though its timing is unknown. We now have a future--a resurrected future. So we are alive now, and we will be alive then, but most importantly--we are "alive" even though we may be physically dead, because we have a sure future in Christ Jesus.

Maybe that helps you get a hold of eternal life. Maybe that just clouds the waters more (sorry!). But it's fun to think about such mysteries of faith. As long as we realize they are just that--mysteries, and faith. We'll never know some things exactly for sure. But one thing we do know.

He is risen!