And whoever lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?- John 11:26
Jesus is continuing His teaching offered to Martha and to us about the life that He brings and sustains in us. In the process of doing this, Jesus teaches us two very important things that we need to discuss at this time.
First, Jesus tells Martha that when we are alive and believe, then we will never die. He is telling Martha how to receive eternal life. You may remember another instance in Jesus�?ministry, when a young man approached Jesus and asked Him how he might obtain eternal life. Jesus gave Him an answer about laying down the things of this life and following Him. In essence Jesus is saying the same thing here.
He is saying that in this life we will have a choice. That choice is going to be whether to vest all of our hopes and dreams on the things of this life and then consequently to lose all hope in the coming eternal life or to place our priorities on the coming life and use the things of this life to invest in the eternal life to come.
The way that we invest in the eternal life to come is by accepting and living for Jesus in this life. We have only this life to do it. We cannot hope for a chance to accept Christ after death. The Bible tells us that it is appointed for man once to die and then the judgment occurs. This destroys any hope of reincarnation.
My grandmother, who has gone on to that eternal life in Christ, had a plaque on her wall over her front door. It now is over my front door. It says, “Only one life, will soon be past, only what’s done for Christ, will last.�?This little saying really says it all. This short and seemingly insignificant life is the chance we have to invest in Christ. What we invest now will determine our eternity.
Some would say that this is just not possible. How can God make our eternity determined simply on what we do in this life. That seems unbalanced and unfair to some. If we look at what happens in this life, we will see that the same thing occurs here. We decide whether or not to make certain investments in education, family, jobs and so forth. The decisions we make to invest a few years in something can affect the rest of our lives. The decision we make to invest a little money here and there can make huge differences. So we see that even in this life, small decisions in a small space of time can determine big outcomes or big struggles for the rest of our lives. Ask a young mother who has a child and then doesn’t go to college how a decision that lasted on a few minutes can affect the rest of your life. The decisions we make in this life, will affect the rest of our eternity.
The beautiful thing is that this time is the struggle time. If we persevere in this life then our eternity is secure in Christ. Just like the runner who pushes on through that one race will be the winner for the rest of His life, we can do the same in Christ. If we just endure, believe, strive, and love in this life for Christ then we will be assured that our eternity will be with Him. Nothing will be able to take this away.
Just remember that this life is important. We can’t just throw this life away and hope that we will get another chance. That is the tragedy of suicide. That person gives up any and all chances to make this life a better one. They give up any and all chances that they had to affect the eternity they will have. Whatever it was when they died, that is what they are stuck with. Don’t waste this life. Invest this life in Jesus. Don’t give up on this life; invest this life for Jesus. As long as we have breath and strength, we can affect our eternity and do what Jesus said second: Believe, Believe, Believe!!
Have you made your decision?? If not, then today is the day to decide whom you will serve!! God Bless all, love in Christ Betty