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Observation

Socrates said, “death is the gift of life.” This life is not a beginning and an end, but rather death is the final resurrection into that which was intended all along. Me, given a new body that can receive and live in the fullness of God’s intention. So many people believe that this short walk of physical earthly life is the ‘all there is to it.’ But God goes to great lengths to assure us that His plans are much more, eternally more. He may not spend a lot of time trying to explain the afterlife, as we would struggle to understand from our limited view, but He does make it clear it’s available and open to all who would choose to enter in with Him.

 

It’s not earned, you do deserve resurrection life in the new heavens and earth of eternity, you receive it as a gift. Your performance, your “sins” will not condemn you in God’s eyes, for He is not focused on your performance but on your relationship with Him. Those who believe in me, who choose relationship with me, who want my love and live in me, God assures us that if you want to be with Him into eternity then you are welcome. So many people believe that they must earn eternal life, they look into the scriptures like a treasure map, looking for the performance criteria that is required. Then they affirm their rightness and condemn others who don’t have what they have. God says “ridiculous, It’s all about the choice to receive me, my love.”

 

Now, eternity begins now! It’s a place that begins in my life today. I may not have entered its reality of experience, but I can live from the assurance and hope of its coming. As I enter into this hope, it enters me now and shapes my short walk here. Your understanding and your hope in the future always shape the present. For many the hope of the weekend coming shapes their Friday. So God does not leave us unaware but gives us confident assurance of eternity so that the shortness of what remains here is shaped in that hope.

 

This promise “they have already passed from death into life,” I personally find to be deeply influencing the shape of my now. I catch myself when I fall for the demands and jump on the treadmill of today’s microwave culture where I must get everything now. I hate all that it shows me, and then I remind myself, I have eternity. The passions I have for this life are never meant to be fulfilled in this life, their fulfillment awaits me in eternity. So I rest. I give myself to others, or at least I try and exercise the freedom I have for this. I know I don’t have to drink it all in here, I have eternity.

 

Application

I will continue to be shaped by the assurance of eternity in the troubles, turmoil, and randomness of this walk. I will rest in knowing that I do not have to search to find or perform to earn, and enjoy with confidence the love of God knowing that the glimpses I see here are the tastes of my forever. I will receive the blessing of eternity now.

 

Response

Thank you for this amazing promise, this beautiful life-shaping gift. Thank you that it’s not for the few but for everyone who desires it. Thank you that you have made the way wide open. I long to see and experience the brilliance, awe, and majesty of what you have joyfully planned for me.

 

Meditation

Meditation truth – I have already passed from death into life.

Consider:

Does the promise of eternity shape your today? Is God inviting you to allow it too?

JOURNEY DEEPER